World Economic Crisis Slightly Ruffles the Hair of the Swiss

There are two kinds of economists: the ones with a political or theoretical axe to grind, who will interpret absolutely all data as either supporting their pet theory, or false; and the ones who actually know what they're talking about. Needless to say, GW Bush went on a hiring binge to fill his administration with as many of the former group as possible.

I think most members of the latter group live in Switzerland, and/or are Paul Krugman.

I already had this belief that Switzerland knows more than anyone else about making and keeping money. You have to hand it to a country that's been free, rich and at peace for 500 years: they know what they're doing. (They even handled Nazi Germany pretty well, so I hear, saving about 50,000 Jews in the process.) So I went online to see how Switzerland's weathering the economic hurricane that has ripped the roof off the rest of the world. Is it bankrupt, like Iceland, and begging for loans from the Russian mafia (oops, I mean "Russia," wink wink--is "mafiosogarchy" a word yet)? Is its economy imploding, like ours, with jobs and money vanishing into thin air? Let's hear it straight from the Swiss:

The luxury car salesman in Geneva: "My Jaguar sales are down since August."
The financial-sector recruiter: "Most banks have frozen new hiring in about 80% of their departments. They're still hiring managers to handle client demands, and they're still warring with each other to attract the best talent. But generally speaking, they're trying to limit operation costs for the coming year." (Note the phrase "stopped hiring," as opposed to "had layoffs." And note that the other 20% of bank departments are still hiring. Banks are still hiring! They're going under everywhere else.)
Some banks: "[The private banks] Pictet and Mirabaud say that they are growing, though they no longer have the same serenity as they did at the beginning of the year."

Yes! The overall serenity of banks has decreased somewhat! I guess in Swiss terms, that's an economic crisis right there.

My big question is this: since the Swiss obviously have this down to an art form, why have America and Europe--but especially America--been wasting so much time spinning pretty new politico-economic theories, and repeatedly making laws based on those theories despite the fact that every single time they do it leads to a recession? (Reagan, Bush, I'm talking to you.) Why don't we simply observe what works, and then do it? I guess because Bush and all his trickle-down economists cling to their pet theories like Gollum clings to the One Ring. "Mussst have it, my preciousss!"