George W. Bush and the Republican controlled congress had eight years to bring our attention and to fix any supposed Democrat caused housing bubbles. They did nothing in eight years except continue to fuel the fires.

Sheesh. Obama is getting blamed for this economy and people say its time he took responsibility, when he's only been in office for 1 year! But Bush apologists blame Clinton for the economic collapse that happened at the end of 8 YEARS OF REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP.

Come on. Both parties refuse to limit spending. They always have. And since WW2, the Republicans tend to increase the U.S. debt more than Dems.

Problem is that the tax cheats at UBS amount to hundreds of billions in assets held, whereas the tax cheats in Congress amounted to maybe $100,000.

So the beams and splinters here are reversed.

You'll never go broke underestimating the stupidity of Andrew's sheeple.

UBS will immediately go bankrupt without its license to operate in the U.S. If the Swiss continue to be outlets for criminals to hide money, then they will be outlawed by every civilized country in the world and their banks will all collapse.

Apparently you don't understand the issue. If U.S. banks or other businesses operate in China, then they must follow the laws of China. If they don't divulge information the government of China wants then they will get their licenses to operate revoked. That is China's right, just as it is our right to tell UBS that they can't operate in the U.S. if it continues to conspire with U.S. citizens to defraud the government out of money it owes in the form of taxes.

Illegal? What have you been sniffing?

How is the illegality of stuff determined in your country? Isn't there a process that involves courts, including a Supreme Court? If the Federal Reserve was illegal, then don't you think a court would have ruled it so by now?

Or do you suggest that ultimate illegality be determined by Ohlinger rather than a Supreme Court?

Because wealthy conservatives don't cheat on their taxes?

Right!

Nobody is "forcing" anybody to change their laws. If the Swiss don't want to play along with civilized countries, then the civilized countries of the world have a right to keep the Swiss from operating in their countries.

Switzerland's business model is to help criminals hide their money from its rightful owners, whether it belongs to taxing authorities, or if its origin is from criminal operations.

Switzerland doesn't have a right to U.S. consumers.

Things aren't PROVED in courts. In criminal courts in the US there is a standard called "reasonable doubt", but there are tens of thousands of people that have been found guilty by a court and later found to be innocent. In a civil court, all that is required is a "preponderance of evidence", or 50.1% of the evidence weighing on your side. Neither one of these things is "proof" of anything, other than proof you convinced a judge and/or jury that you a right.

The billionaire owners of Swiss banks are screwed either way their Swiss court rules. If they don't turn over the names then they'll lose their license to operate in the U.S. If they do turn over all the names, then there will be no advantage for future tax cheats, criminals, terrorists, and mobsters to hide their money in numbered Swiss accounts. In either case they lose most of their business.

The Swiss operate by harboring tax cheats and allowing terrorists, mobsters, and criminals to invest and launder illegal proceeds in income generating accounts.

If you choose to mess with criminals as your source of income, then I don't feel bad when you get burnt.

#1) The Swiss don't have a right to have access to U.S. consumers unless they follow the laws of the U.S. If they don't want to turn over the name of tax cheats, then they won't have a license to operate here. That's their decision.

#2) Read up on the debt. Our debt as a percent of GDP was twice this high back in 1948 and it wasn't the end of the world. Our foreign held debt as a percent of GDP isn't as high as most other first world countries. One problem is that our Republican administrations since WW2 have all tended to increase the yearly deficits and the overall debt. Their hero Reagan tripled the national debt and recently GWBush and the Republican controlled congress took only eight years to double it again on top of that to its current levels.