Tag Archive: Featured

Retirement Income Planning Truth with Jim Otar. Part 1.

Income is the lifeblood of retirement.  In Part 1, wisdom from the early chapters of Jim Otar’s new book about retiree income challenges is explored. A one-person revolutionary.

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Swiss refiner breaks industry silence on sourcing gold from risky areas

In a rare interview, PX Precinox CEO Philippe Chave defends his company’s record in Peru and says abandoning artisanal miners is not the way to achieve more sustainable and transparent mining practices.

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It Just Isn’t Enough

The Department of Labor attached a technical note to its weekly report on unemployment claims. The state of California has announced that it is suspending the processing of initial claims filed by (former) workers in that state.

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The Second Act Will Be Worse Than the First: Lockdowns Are Not the Answer

In the first presidential “debate” (I use that word creatively), Joe Biden hinted that he would order a national lockdown in order to “defeat” the covid-19 virus, and there certainly seems to be a consensus in the media and among political elites that if there is another “outbreak” of covid, then the “shelter in place” order will be the law of the land.

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What “Experts” Miss about Economic Inequality

That’s a question USA Today posed to three “policy experts on the left and the right” in this recent article. The responses, while unsurprising, were nevertheless disappointing. For libertarians, economic inequality itself is not problematic, as long as it is in the context of an unfettered market economy free of government privileges and interference.

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FX Daily, October 9: Animal Spirits Return

Overview:  The on-again-off-again fiscal stimulus in the US is back on as the White House now supports a broad stimulus program, but not as big as the Democrats $2.2 trillion package.  It is the narrative being cited as the rebuilding of risk appetites is the wobble earlier in the week. 

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Central banks and BIS publish first central bank digital currency (CBDC) report laying out key requirements

Seven central banks and the BIS release a report assessing the feasibility of publicly available CBDCs in helping central banks deliver their public policy objectives. Report outlines foundational principles and core features of a CBDC, but does not give an opinion on whether to issue.

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Women 62 percent of doctors under 40 in Switzerland

At the end of 2018, there were 23,000 doctors in Switzerland, according to a recently published study. Overall, 41% of these doctors were women. Among doctors aged 60-64, the percentage was 28%. However, 62% of doctors under 40 were women, a figure which partly reflects the higher numbers of women graduating from Swiss universities.

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Most Everything Governments Do Should Be Regarded as “Corrupt”

Governments that redistribute wealth and regulate our daily lives are inherently corrupt. We cheapen the word "corruption" when we reserve it for just a few politicians who break the arbitrary rules.

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A Hard Rain Is Going to Fall

The status quo is about to discover that it can't stop the hard rain or protect its fragile sandcastles. You'll recognize A Hard Rain Is Going to Fall as a cleaned-up rendition of Bob Dylan's classic "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall".

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Dollar Remains Heavy as Markets Await Fresh Drivers

The US Vice Presidential debate was a comparatively cordial affair, though the impact on the election is likely to be limited; polls continue to move in favor of Biden, including in swing states. The weak dollar narrative under a Democratic sweep continues to play out; the outlook for fiscal stimulus is as cloudy as ever; FOMC minutes contained no big surprises.

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Problems with Theories on the Black-White Wealth Gap

The wealth gap between white and black Americans is frequently discussed. Today it’s becoming popular to attribute disparities to black culture. Clearly all cultures are not equal, but can the subculture of some black American communities explain variations within the wealth gap?

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FX Daily, October 08: Markets Catch Collective Breath

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed at their highest levels in around a month yesterday, recouping Tuesday's presidential tweet-driven drop. We thought the market overreacted to the end of the fiscal talks as many had already recognized that a stimulus agreement was unlikely before the election, but the near round-trip seen in stocks and bonds was surprising.

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Swiss bank caught in Venezuelan money-laundering scandal

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has found that Banca Credinvest “seriously violated money-laundering regulations” in its handling of Venezuelan client relationships.

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If the US Adopts Eurozone Policies, the Jobs Recovery Will Suffer

The best social policy is one that supports job creation and rising wages. Entitlements do not make a society more prosperous, and ultimately drive it to stagnation. This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Millian Quinteros. Original Article: "If the US Adopts Eurozone Policies, the Jobs Recovery Will Suffer​".

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FX Daily, October 07: The Day After

President Trump's tweet announced that negotiations with the House Democrat leadership had collapsed, and there will be no further talks until after the election. Many economists had been removing it from their Q4 GDP projections, but the market was caught wrongfooted. Risk came off.

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EasyJet reduces fleet and cuts jobs in Switzerland 

Faced with lower demand and with no recovery expected anytime soon, EasyJet Switzerland is withdrawing two of its 12 planes stationed in Basel. Seventy jobs will be lost. 

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Dollar Softens and US Curve Steepens as Odds of Democratic Sweep Rise

The dollar remains under pressure; the US curve continues to steepen; a compromise on fiscal stimulus before the election still seems unlikely; this is another quiet day in terms of US data. President Lagarde said the ECB is prepared to inject fresh monetary stimulus to support the recovery; we expect the ECB to increase its PEPP in Q4.

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If We Want to Increase Demand in the Market, We Must First Increase Production

Following the ideas of John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, many commentators associate economic growth with increases in the demand for goods and services. Both Keynes and Friedman held that the Great Depression of the 1930s was due to an insufficiency of aggregate demand and that thus the way to fix the problem was to boost aggregate demand.

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Silver Falls, We’ve Got #$*&! Mail

There was a big drop in the price of silver last Wednesday. Then the price moved up, and down, but mostly up. Let’s look at a graph of the silver price and basis showing Sep 30 through Oct 5, with intraday resolution.

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