SNB & CHF

We should not just be concerned about problems in the American banking system, but also about the proliferation of Eurodollars. Original Article: "Eurodollars as a Fractional Reserve Market" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

To me, a wise and humane policy is occasionally to let inflation rise even when inflation is running above target. —Janet Yellen We have sighted the enemy and he is us. —Pogo On July 26, 2023, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. By the time you read this, your credit card interest rate will probably have increased for your September statement. When headlines talk about the Fed raising interest rates, the annual percentage...

Overview: Despite disappointing German industrial output, where the 0.8% decline was twice expectations, the euro is holding above $1.07, where large options exist that are expiring over the next few sessions. The greenback is consolidating against the Japanese yen, where the fear of intervention has increased. Sterling remains on its back foot after yesterday's seemingly dovish comments by Bank of England Governor Bailey. Emerging market currencies are mostly...

We talked to Sergei Pugachev, Vladimir Putin’s former adviser, to discover what his story could tell us about the Russian president’s affairs. “Putin expropriated my assets for 20 billion, and he thinks that I should be like a bank, so in that sense I’m not even a banker, but Putin’s bank.” Click here to listen to his full interview which goes live today at 3.30 pm (CET): https://youtu.be/sJ4Yp5ZJNsg --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the...

The strength of the Swiss franc (CHF) has been the topic of countless “expert” analyses for over a year and it has received considerable coverage in the mainstream financial press. In fact, the last time the currency garnered this much interest was probably in 2011, when its celebrated “safe haven” status backfired, as investors fled to it in droves and pushed the price to levels that forced the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to intervene and peg it to the euro....

Crack-Up Capitalism will be of interest to many readers of The Austrian because of what it says about Murray Rothbard; and for the most part, I shall limit my review to discussing this. The main point of the book is easy to grasp. In recent decades, the notion of a centralized state has come under fire in various ways, including attempts to secede, to create “enterprise zones” within states, and to establish societies without a state at all. Quinn Slobodian, a...

The possible bankruptcy of Thames Water Company in Great Britain brings to mind the heady days 40 years ago when Margaret Thatcher's government was privatizing state-owned enterprises, including TW. Not all privatization stories have happy endings. Original Article: "Thatcher's New Style of Government" [embedded content]...

People cavil much about Ricardo’s law of association, better known under the name law of comparative cost. The reason is obvious. This law is an offense to all those eager to justify protection and national economic isolation from any point of view other than the selfish interests of some producers or the issues of war-preparedness. —Ludwig von Mises, Human Action Alexander Macris of the Substack blog Contemplations on the Tree of Woe has called attention to Ian...

Swiss electricity companies are warning that a lack of agreement with the European Union over energy supplies is hampering Switzerland’s ability to import electricity and could compromise its grid stability. They say Switzerland will not be able to achieve its energy and climate targets by 2050 without a high level of acceptance for new energy infrastructure and close energy cooperation with the EU. We take a closer look at Switzerland’s electricity landscape in this short...

The real effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima were hidden from Americans until the New Yorker published an exposé in 1946. Americans finally were confronted with the truth—even if they didn't want to believe it. Original Article: "The Bombing of Hiroshima: The Crime and the Cover-Up" [embedded content] Tags:...