SNB & CHF

Investors and businesses are wrestling with conflicting impulses. On the one hand, economic growth seems sufficiently strong to allow the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and the Bank of England to continue to counter elevated price pressures. They are set to hike rates next month. On the other hand, last month's banking stress is seen translating to a lower and sooner peak in policy rates. Before the bank stress emerged, the market had priced in a peak Fed...

Mark takes a look at the good news on price inflation and why it is better than reported, but probably short-lived. Other statistics are worsening and, amazingly, even landlords are starting to feel the pain! Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues. [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

The income tax is “undoubtedly the most totalitarian of all taxes.1 —Murray Rothbard At the founding of our country, the framers of our Constitution wisely withheld the right to tax incomes from the federal government. With the recent Revolutionary War in mind, the States were reluctant to cede strong taxing powers to a central state. Given the enormous change in how this country regards the income tax, it is instructive to consider its origins. Studying this...

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. Taxes are the price we pay for civilization. I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization. —Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. During tax season, many people try to provide you with practical ways to lower your tax bill and mitigate your exposure to both tax payments and reporting. Instead of repeating such advice, I would rather discuss the role of taxes in society or, in particular, why we don’t need taxes....

This week, with camera crews well positioned with the perfect shot to take it all in, federal agents arrested a man for allegedly leaking classified Pentagon documents mostly related to U.S. involvement in the ongoing proxy war in Ukraine. Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira has been accused of leaking sensitive U.S. intelligence documents on to a Discord server. For those who are unaware, Discord is an internet messaging platform for a variety of...

Jonathan Newman joins Bob to dissect Paul Krugman's latest NYT op-ed, in which he derides Ron DeSantis as paranoid for thinking a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could be used to control citizens. Krugman's op-ed in the New York Times: Mises.org/HAP391a Bob breaking down negative interest rates: Mises.org/HAP391b [embedded content] [embedded content]...

[This piece is an excerpt from The Great Reset and the Struggle for Liberty.] The notion that the world can be replicated and replaced by a simulated reality says a great deal about the beliefs of those who promote the metaverse [treated in the previous chapter]. The conception is materialist and mechanistic at base, the hallmarks of social engineering. It represents the world as consisting of nothing but manipulable matter, or rather, of digital media mimicking...

In his excellent new book In Defense of Capitalism (Republic Book Publishers, 2023), the historian and political scientist Rainer Zitelmann asks a vital question about inequality. In asking this question, he makes a move characteristic of his work. Demands to reduce inequality of wealth and income are widespread, and often debates about proposals to do this are centered in political philosophy. Do people have natural rights to their property that state-mandated...

On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss recent reveals about new lows for the FBI. Ryan discusses new reports about the targeting of traditional Catholic churches and the history of the American Stasi, while Tho highlights new evidence about the role of federal agents in escalating January 6. [embedded content] Recommended Reading "The FBI’s Forgotten Criminal Record" by Jim Bovard: Mises.org/RR_129_A "Abolish the FBI" by Ryan...

The past few weeks, major countries have been moving away from the US dollar, raising doubts about the dollar’s long-dominant role in the world. Eight weeks ago, it was just pariah nations like Iran or Russia trying to de-dollarize. Now it’s Brazil, France, even Saudi Arabia—the lynchpin of the decades-long “petrodollar” arrangement. If the dollar does lose its position as the global reserve currency, it will be catastrophic for the American economy. Catastrophic for...