SNB & CHF

The United States House of Representatives’ passage of the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 is a big Republican failure addressing the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling would be raised above the current limit of $31 trillion by $1.5 trillion or through March 2024, whichever comes first. Notably, “official cost estimates have not yet been released,” so the projected paltry $480 billion annual spending reductions likely will be much less. This is because this bill “does not...

Economically speaking, the US government is bankrupt even if the government won’t admit what is obvious. But how would an actual bankruptcy proceeding go?  Original Article: "In the Event of an Official US Bankruptcy" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

The character Mike Campbell in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises was asked about his money troubles and responded with a vivid description embracing self-contradiction: “‘How did you go bankrupt?’ Bill asked. ‘Two ways,’ Mike said. ‘Gradually and then suddenly.’” Ground-hugging interest rates for more than a decade kept the inefficient and the incompetent in business. Now, the jig is up, with a Mother’s Day weekend corporate massacre that saw the...

Progressive governments in the name of equity are calling for taxation of capital gains. They really are demanding destruction of capital through capital consumption.  Original Article: "Taxing Capital Leads to Capital Consumption" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

A “civil society” is a community of individuals who are linked together by common interests and activities. Common interests include being able to walk the streets safely (peace) and to exercise such rights as freedom of speech (individual freedom). These shared interests allow common activities to flourish, including commerce and the education of children. Civil society is possible only because most people want to live securely, protect their loved ones, and...

With negative growth now falling to near –10 percent, money-supply contraction is now the largest we've seen since the Great Depression.  Original Article: "The Money Supply Has Plummeted in the Biggest Drop Since the Great Depression" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

One of the reasons that most economists of the 1920s did not recognize the existence of an inflationary problem was the widespread adoption of a stable price level as the goal and criterion for monetary policy. The extent to which the Federal Reserve authorities were guided by a desire to keep the price level stable has been a matter of considerable controversy. Far less controversial is the fact that more and more economists came to consider a stable price level as...

Despite the soothing hot air from the White House and Fed officials, the financial system is becoming increasingly fragile and unstable. Maybe all of that intervention the past decade was not wise. Original Article: "Finance Discovers Sting: "How Fragile We Are"" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

Modern culture is biased against those that are rich even while depending upon the wealth that successful entrepreneurs have created. Original Article: "Progressives Want to Eliminate Wealthy Entrepreneurs but Need the Wealth They Create" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

June is a pivotal month. The US debt-ceiling political drama cast a pall over sentiment even if it did not prevent the dollar from rallying or the S&P 500 and NASDAQ from setting new highs for the year. It is as if the two political parties in the US are playing a game of chicken and daring the other side to capitulate. Both sides are incentivized to take to the brink to convince their constituents that they secured the best deal possible. No side seems to...