Monthly Archive: February 2021

Switzerland’s low-income earners hit far harder despite lower Covid-19 infection rates

2021-02-28

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2021-02-28

The economic impact of the Covid-​19 pandemic has hit low-income households far harder than those on high incomes, according to a study published by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich.

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Three Things About Today’s UST Sell-off, Beginning With Fedwire

2021-02-28

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2021-02-28

UST Yield Curve, 1990
Three relatively quick observations surrounding today’s UST selloff.1. The intensity. Reflation is the underlying short run basis, but there is ample reason to suspect quite a bit more than that alone given the unexpected interruption in Fedwire yesterday.

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Japan’s Well-Fed Zombie Corporations

2021-02-28

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2021-02-28

Japan: Equity-to-Asset Ratio by Enterprise Size
The corona crisis has intensified the discussion about the zombification of the economy; enterprises have become more dependent on government bailouts, loans, subsidies, short-time working benefits, and loans from central banks. Governments around the world claim the measures to be only temporary.

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The PRO Act Is Not Just a Union Handout—It’s an Assault on the Freedom of Association Itself

2021-02-28

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2021-02-28

On February 4, 2021, Democrats in the House and Senate introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Like many names in Washington, this one is an Orwellian misnomer that does the exact opposite of what it claims to be doing. If passed, the bill, which is basically a union wish list, would radically transform the nature of the labor market in the US with numerous sweeping and heavy-handed changes.

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Employment in Switzerland fell in 4th quarter 2020 for the third consecutive time

2021-02-27

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2021-02-27

Switzerland Employment Level Q4 2020
In the 4th quarter 2020, the total employment (number of jobs) fell by 0.4% in comparison with the same quarter a year earlier (+0.1% with previous quarter). Among women, the decrease was 0.6%, while employment among men fell by 0.3%. In full-time equivalents, employment in the same period declined also by 0.4%.

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Former Swiss central banker throws in towel to lead OECD

2021-02-27

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2021-02-27

Former Swiss National Bank (SNB) chairman, Philipp Hildebrand, has pulled out of the race to become the next secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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Die Artikel auf Mises Deutschland – Februar 2021

2021-02-27

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2021-02-27

Ludvig
„Der archimedische Punkt bei Anthony de Jasay ist die Freiheitsvermutung.“ Interview mit Burkhard Sievert, 1, Februar 2021 Ich bin über die Bücher von Roland Baader auf Anthony de Jasay aufmerksam geworden, der ihn als einen herausragenden freiheitlichen Philosophen hervorhob. Um es mit Gerhard Radnitzky zu sagen: „Im intellektuellen Bereich haben nur sehr wenige mehr für die Sache der Freiheit getan als Anthony de Jasay.“

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Bulls, Bears, and Beyond: In Depth with James Grant

2021-02-27

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2021-02-27

James Grant is editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, which he founded in 1983. He is the author of nine books, including Money of the Mind, The Trouble with Prosperity, John Adams: Party of One, The Forgotten Depression, and more recently Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian.

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How High is Too High for Rising Government Bond Yields?

2021-02-27

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2021-02-27

The two day rise in the gold price of more than US$50 fizzled out on Tuesday. The gold price is down about 7% (in US dollar terms) since its year-to-date high set on January 6. It is also down 13% from its all-time high set in August 2020. The silver price, boosted by social media attention, did not set its year-to-date high until February 1.

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FX Daily, February 26: Fed Hike Ideas Give the Beleaguered Greenback Support

2021-02-26

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2021-02-26

A poor seven-year note auction and ideas that the first Fed hike can come as early as the end of next year spurred a steep sell-off in bonds and equities. Technical factors like the triggering of stops losses, large selling in the futures market, which some also link to hedging of mortgage exposure (convexity hedging), also play a role.

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The end of central banking as we know it

2021-02-26

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2021-02-26

The severest crisis the European Central Bank (ECB) ever faced coincided with the early days of a new Executive Board. Over the past year and a half, the board’s six members, including the ECB’s president and vice president, have all been replaced, either because they resigned, or because their eight-year mandate expired. 

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Switzerland GDP Q4 2020: +0.3 percent QoQ, -1.6 percent YoY

2021-02-26

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2021-02-26

Switzerland Gross Domestic Product (GDP) QoQ, Q4 2020
Switzerland’s GDP growth slowed to 0.3 % in the 4th quarter after reaching 7.6 % in the 3rd quarter.  Major losses were recorded in the services directly affected by the tightening of the containment measures. Other industries continued to recover. On the whole, the second wave of the coronavirus until the end of 2020 had much less of an impact on the economy than the first wave did last spring.

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Record fall in Swiss hotel occupancy in 2020

2021-02-26

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2021-02-26

In 2020, the number of overnight stays in Swiss hotels fell by 40% to 23.7 million, a fall of 15.8 million nights compared to 2019. The fall, driven by Covid-19, is the largest fall in overnight stays in Switzerland since the end of the 1950s, according to Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office.

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Want More Entrepreneurship? Embrace Long-Term Legal Stability.

2021-02-26

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2021-02-26

Audio Mises Wire
Prudent economic calculation becomes more difficult as legal and regulatory regimes are subject to frequent changes and political upheaval.  Original Article: "Want More Entrepreneurship? Embrace Long-Term Legal Stability." This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.

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Episode 13: The Pressing Problem With “Money Printing”

2021-02-26

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2021-02-26

The phrase “money printing” conjures images of a giant printing press spitting out sheets of hundred dollar bills somewhere in the basement of the Fed. But is that what’s actually happening lately? Absolutely not. Join John Flaherty and Monetary Metals CEO Keith Weiner for a conversation that will likely make you say “WOW!” or “Whaaat?” or maybe even “Oh, NOW I get it…”

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Swiss press divided over phased easing of Covid restrictions

2021-02-25

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2021-02-25

Is the government showing some backbone or being cowardly by keeping to its gradual pandemic reopening plans? The Swiss media can’t agree. For the German-speaking Neue Zürcher ZeitungExternal link broadsheet, the government – which confirmed its measures on Wednesday – is simply being obstinate.

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Swiss To Vote In Referendum On Government’s Emergency COVID-19 Measures

2021-02-25

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2021-02-25

Via 21stCenturyWire.com,After mounting a national campaign, and the work of determined local organisations, Swiss campaigners have managed to trigger a referendum for ending the government’s destructive COVID regulations.

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Oil and Debt: Why Our Financial System Is Unsustainable

2021-02-25

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2021-02-25

Primary energy consumption by source, 1965-2018
How much energy, water and food will the "money" created out of thin air in the future buy? Finance is often cloaked in arcane terminology and math, but the one dynamic that governs the future is actually very simple.

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The Greatest Thing the Roman Empire Ever Did Was Go Away

2021-02-25

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2021-02-25

The Roman Empire is often presented as the fabric of Western civilization. The languages, laws, religion, mores, and implements of the Western political imaginary come in large part, in one way or another, from Rome. The Roman Empire has been rebooted time and again by invaders and latecomers, from the Ostrogoths to Charlemagne to Mussolini; transferred (in reality or in rhetoric) to Byzantine, to Moscow, to the Habsburgs, and even to Washington,...

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Why Dominion’s Defamation Lawsuits Are Garbage

2021-02-25

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2021-02-25

Dominion Voting Systems is suing MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for $1.3 billion. This comes in the wake of other Dominion lawsuits against Trump advisors Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. All are accused of lying about Dominion’s supposed complicity in using the company’s vote-counting software to favor presidential candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

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