SNB & CHF

Arguments advanced to support a political position often fail to withstand the slightest scrutiny. Rather, they are meant to make an impression on the impressionable—those who lack the context required to make an evaluation—and draw large numbers of the uninformed to one side of a political debate. Such is the case with libertarian economist Bryan Caplan’s recent article in favor of unrestricted immigration, wherein he uses the United Arab Emirates as a supposed...

The Swiss village of Brienz/Brinzauls in eastern Switzerland is again threatened by the collapse of a mountain that looms overhead. Movements in the scree slope above Brienz in canton Graubünden have accelerated sharply in recent weeks. All 100 residents are being evacuated. Brienz was evacuated once before in 2023, because of the threat of a landslide. You can read more about the dangers the villagers face on swissinfo.ch. --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss...

USD/CHF is in a strong uptrend which keeps making higher highs.  However it has reached overbought levels according to the RSI momentum indicator  This means bulls should be aware of the increased risk of pullbacks.  USD/CHF continues rising in its established uptrend but it has now reached overbought levels (above 70) according to the Relative Strength Index (RSI) momentum indicator. When this occurs it advises long-holders not to add to their...

The Swiss village of Brienz/Brinzauls in eastern Switzerland is again threatened by the collapse of a mountain that looms overhead. Movements in the scree slope above Brienz in canton Graubünden have accelerated sharply in recent weeks. All 100 residents are being evacuated. Brienz was evacuated once before in 2023, because of the threat of a landslide. You can read more about the dangers the villagers face on SWI swissinfo.ch. --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss...

The Treasury Department posted its latest revenue and spending totals this week, and deficits continue to mount at impressive speed. During October—the first month of the 2025 fiscal year—the federal deficit was more than a quarter of a trillion dollars, coming in at $257.4 billion. Tax revenue in October had totaled $326 billion, but spending totaled $584 billion. Now one month into the new fiscal year, the federal government is on pace to add more than $2 trillion...

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris on November 5, millions of American women—especially those of Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, currently aged from 12 to 27—are despondent and dismayed that Democrats’ campaign focus on abortion policy did not convince more voters to choose Harris. They are convinced that their “my body, my choice” freedom has been stolen from them by the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson...

In the history of the social sciences, no other field of study has attracted so great a level of hostility as the science of economics. Since the inception of the science, the onslaught against it has been on the rise, extending across individuals and groups. And the outlook for a favorable reception of the science is bleak, given that a significant number of people are incapable of following through the extended chains of reasoning required for comprehending...

The Trump transition team on Wednesday announced that he is nominating South Dakota governor Kristi Noem as the next head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the coming weeks, we’ll hear a lot about Noem’s personal politics and origins. We’ll also hear about how the DHS is, as the AP puts it, “one of the biggest government agencies that will be integral to his vow to secure the border and carry out a massive deportation operation.”Unfortunately, all this...

What is the Mises Institute? The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order....

This article is adapted from a speech delivered at the Mises Circle in Fort Myers, Florida on November 9, 2024.The answer to the question posed in the title is: Yes and No. Yes, some elections have made a significant difference but in general, no, they have not. There are many reasons why elections generally no longer make much of a difference in terms of the economy. One is that for the past half century the average reelection rate of incumbents in the House of...