USD is up 8% versus EUR YTD ($1 = €0.88 then, €0.95 now). US, unlike Europe, does not actually need Russian oil/gas. And yet, US inflation is above the world average (<https://www.barrons.com/articles/inflation-has-become-a-glob...>).

Both US and EU printed huge amounts of money during the last few years, and the swiss, it seems, didn't.

probably because they already have a pretty robust social system in place, so it can weather issues like covid and employment issues better

Social systems only work, when you have a vast majority of people who produce (and pay taxes on that) and a small minority of people who don't (because they either can't work or the abuse the system).

I'm not sure how the swiss handled the lockdowns, if it was more "open" (like the swedes did) or if they shut everything down, but here (in slovenia), we shut a bunch of businesses down (most of the service industry, most of the shops, etc.) and the government basically paid freshly printed EU money to all those people to stay at home on a "paid vacation" (80% of the paycheck they'd otherwise get), which was great for them (and made them not-protest), but on the other hand, a great middle finger to the rest of the people, and the consequences of all that printed money, that we see now.