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Who wins and who loses because of negative interest rates?

2020-02-24

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2020-02-24

The Swiss National Bank’s negative interest rates, introduced five years ago, are having an increasingly significant economic and social impact. But despite criticism, the SNB does not want to remove them. It considers the measure necessary to stop the Swiss franc appreciating too much.

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Nationalism as National Liberation: Lessons from the End of the Cold War

2020-02-23

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2020-02-23

During the early 1990s, as the world of the old Soviet Bloc was rapidly falling apart, Murray Rothbard saw it all for what it was: a trend of mass decentralization and secession unfolding before the world's eyes. The old Warsaw Pact states of Poland, Hungary, and others won de facto independence for the first time in decades. Other groups began to demand full blown de jure secession as well.

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Some Problems with Worker Productivity Stats

2020-02-19

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2020-02-19

According to the US Labor Department, worker productivity in the non-farm sector increased at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 after declining by 0.2 percent in the previous quarter. For the year, productivity increased 1.7 percent, up from 1.3 percent in both 2017 and 2018. It was the best annual showing since the 3.4 percent increase in 2010.

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Swiss environmental agency sets no date for 5G launch

2020-02-17

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2020-02-17

Earlier this week, Switzerland’s Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) announced it had contacted the cantons at the end of January 2020, informing them it had not set a date for switching on 5G networks. However, mobile networks plan to continue installing 5G equipment after rolling out more than 2,000 antenna last year – a map showing where the new antenna are can be viewed here.

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Ex-cabinet members had knowledge of Crypto business dealings, say papers

2020-02-17

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2020-02-17

The Crypto leaks scandal continues to shake the Swiss political establishment. The Sunday papers report that some former federal ministers and parliamentarians had ties with the Swiss firm that helped the CIA and German intelligence listen to conversations of foreign powers for decades.

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Government “Fixes” for the Trade Balance Are Far Worse Than Any Trade Deficit

2020-02-16

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2020-02-16

US Trade Balance, 2000-2019
In December 2019, the US trade account balance stood at a deficit of $48.9 billion, against a deficit of $43.7 billion in November and $60.8 billion in December 2018. Most commentators consider the trade account balance the single most important piece of information about the health of the economy. According to the widely accepted view, a surplus on the trade account is considered a positive development while a deficit is perceived negatively....

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Small Countries Are Better: They’re Often Richer and Safer Than Big Countries

2020-02-13

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2020-02-13

"World Happiness" Index Ranking v. National Population
In the wake of the Brexit vote, Scottish nationalists have renewed their calls for a new referendum on Scottish independence. But many remain unconvinced, and many claim Scotland is "too small" to be an independent country. Others claim that Scotland is too poor, since Scotland's GDP per capita is only 90 percent that of England.

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The Economy Is Not a Factory—Nor Should We Try to Make It One

2020-02-11

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2020-02-11

A common issue with economists and political economists from left to right is that they misunderstand the market economy as simply being a set of production processes. We see this in Lenin’s statement that the Soviet Union should be run like one big factory. We see it in market socialists from Frederic Taylor to Oskar Lange attempting to respond to (and resolve) Mises’s argument that socialist economic calculation is impossible.

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The Fight for Liberty and the Beltway Barbarians

2020-02-10

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2020-02-10

In the conservative and libertarian movements there have been two major forms of surrender, of abandonment of the cause. The most common and most glaringly obvious form is one we are all too familiar with: the sellout. The young libertarian or conservative arrives in Washington, at some think-tank or in Congress or as an administrative aide, ready and eager to do battle, to roll back the State in service to his cherished radical cause.

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Credit Suisse falls back on Swiss roots to restore order

2020-02-09

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2020-02-09

Credit Suisse’s board has defied the wishes of several major shareholders with the surprise axing of chief executive Tidjane Thiam. He has been replaced with Swiss national, and current head of the bank’s domestic operations, Thomas Gottstein.

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Should Swiss watchmakers join forces to stay globally competitive?

2020-02-08

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2020-02-08

As Baselworld continues to face difficulties, the Swiss watch-making industry needs a new platform to showcase its know-how. With watchmakers going it alone with separate initiatives, one industry expert is pushing for a more collaborative effort to keep the industry thriving.

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Philip Morris International to axe jobs in Switzerland

2020-02-05

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2020-02-05

The tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) has unveiled plans to cut jobs at its sites in Lausanne and Neuchâtel. A total of around 265 jobs are likely to go. Most of them will be transferred to the UK, Portugal and Poland. The company has opened formal processes in both cantons and those affected will be informed between now and the end of March 2020, it said.

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Do People Really Seek to Maximize Profit?

2020-02-05

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2020-02-05

[This article is excerpted from chapter 14 of Human Action.] It is generally believed that economists, in dealing with the problems of a market economy, are quite unrealistic in assuming that all men are always eager to gain the highest attainable advantage. They construct, it is said, the image of a perfectly selfish and rationalistic being for whom nothing counts but profit.

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Poverty rate falls slightly in Switzerland

2020-02-04

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2020-02-04

In 2018, the percentage of the population in Switzerland living below the poverty line fell from 8.2% (2017) to 7.9%, returning to the same level as it was in 2010. Most affected by poverty were those aged under 18 (9.6%) and those aged over 64 (13.7%).

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Credit Suisse accused of spying on Greenpeace

2020-02-04

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2020-02-04

According to SonntagsZeitung, the bank Credit Suisse has been spying on Greenpeace. Nearly three years ago, the environmental organisation thwarted security and disrupted the bank’s general assembly with a stunt aimed at shaming Credit Suisse for financing Energy Transfer, a company involved in the construction of the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline running through reserves in the US state of Dakota.

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Foreign demand remains high for luxury Swiss-made watches

2020-01-29

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2020-01-29

Swiss watch manufacturers exported timepieces worth over CHF21 billion ($21.7 billion) last year – the industry’s third-best result ever. Watchmaking is Switzerland’s third-biggest export sector after pharmaceutical and machine tools. Almost 95% of production is sold abroad, the majority to Asia.

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What lies ahead for gold in 2020

2020-01-28

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2020-01-28

Over the last few months, gold’s performance has been remarkable. Many market observers and mainstream analysts have pointed to various geopolitical developments in their efforts to explain away the bullishness as a reaction to whatever happens to be in the headlines at the time.

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Sollen Zentralbanken Klimapolitik betreiben?

2020-01-26

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2020-01-26

Warum die Forderung nach einer klimafreundlichen Anlagepolitik schwierig bis gar nicht umzusetzen ist. Aufgrund ihrer extrem expansiven Geldpolitik sind sowohl die EZB als auch andere wichtige europäische Zentralbanken wie die SNB zu Grossinvestoren auf Anleihenmärkten und teilweise auch an Börsen geworden.

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Wdh Devisen: Euro fällt nach EZB zu Dollar und Franken

2020-01-25

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2020-01-25

Auch zum Franken schwächte sich die Einheitswährung ab und notierte zuletzt bei 1,0707 nach 1,0733 am Morgen. Das Währungspaar USD/CHF stieg auf 0,9699 von 0,9684 Franken. SNB-Chef Thomas Jordan hatte einmal mehr seine Position zu Negativzinsen wiederholt. Diese seien in der Schweiz eine Notwendigkeit, sagte er in einem Interview mit CNBC am Rande des Weltwirtschaftsforums in Davos.

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Why “One Man, One Vote” Doesn’t Work

2020-01-25

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2020-01-25

The US Senate is increasingly targeted by left-wing think tanks and legislators for the fact it is based on "voter inequality." According to critics, the Senate ensures small states are "overrepresented,"and the body favors voters in smaller and more sparsely populated states. In contrast,  reformers  hold up the concept of "one man, one vote" as an ideal and a solution.

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