this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2026
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Putting it into perspective: the Swiss Franc is backed by mutual trust which is something money can't buy (investors have confidence on economic stability during times of crisis) since it's not pegged to another currency or gold despite them having gold reserves. They even have a 1000 CHF bill ($1,269) so it's a strong currency in that sense, they barely circulate it outside.

Do YOU consider the US Dollar a safe haven currency? If it were: it would've received the same status as the Swiss Franc. The reason why CHF is strong is due their trust & confidence alongside a stable economical & political system, put it in comparison: how many Americans have confidence in their own currency? Does the USA have a "truly" stable political system?

The thing is: Switzerland is neutral, meaning they have no incentive whatsoever on becoming belligerents in foreign wars (something the USA can't stay away from since they spend a LOT of money on the military). Their national debt is lower than it is in USA (140m CHF / ~$179m) while in comparison: America's debt has ballooned to around $38,200,000,000,000 if I recall.

It's also tied to their monetary policy (which is highly trusted) hence why they managed to keep inflation relatively low but inflation in America as a joke (no need to say how bad it is). Their interest rate is 0% (can't be said for US Federal Reserve: 3.75%) as Switzerland's goal is to ensure price stability long term while the USA is more on promoting maximum employment.

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[โ€“] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 2 hours ago

I can tell you right now, the vast majority of Americans do not think about money in this way. They are not using the American dollar because it's "safe" but because it's convenient and easy. And that's not even to say they're lazy, needing to transfer money to buy groceries is expensive. And you may be thinking that you mean retirement funds and savings, not everyday money. Ava, viewing it like that is extremely out of touch with the average American. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. It's why you may hear many poor rural folks talk about gas prices the way you hear upper middle class folks and the media talk about stock prices.

All that to say, I think they trust it, but I also don't think they're thinking about it from that perspective. I don't think many Americans have the luxury of thinking about it from that perspective.

Even me personally, the money I have in retirement savings is in stocks. I'll move some to bonds as I age. I have some money in a savings account that has a nice interest rate but that's really more of a buffer for my checking account. I only recently got a credit card so the idea of using credit more aggressively for short comings like some of my peers do is still a little nerve wracking, but regardless, it's not something I'd even consider having in a different currency because I need quicker access to it.

[โ€“] IWW4@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 hours ago