Reply #37: Some are perfectly legal

[Baby Snooks]

Many turned to the stability of the Swiss system when the US dumped the gold standard. They report the interest income and pay taxes on it. They just like the security of knowing their deposits are safe. A security we don't have in this country. If you put $1 million in a CD here, only $250,000 is insured. The other $750,000 is your problem.

Most Americans don't have $1 million in cash. So most Americans have little understanding of the risk in putting it in a US bank. And lots of wealthy Americans like to have millions in cash lying around. For the rainy days. Or the typhoons on Wall Street.

And most Americans resent someone having $1 million in cash in a Swiss bank and assume they stole it and then didn't pay taxes on it.

Quite a few who put their cash in Enron or World Com/MCI stock or in investments with Bernie Madoff or in CDs with Allen Stanford probably wish they had put the cash in a Swiss bank. It would still be there.