SNB & CHF

Last month was the 89th anniversary of one of America’s biggest blunders on her descent from honest, sound money into weaponized political money: Executive Order 6102. Signed on April 5, 1933, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt required all persons holding more than five ounces of gold to deliver their “gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates, now owned by them to a Federal Reserve Bank, branch or agency, or to any member bank of the Federal...

Too much government spending and loose monetary policy lead to rising prices combined with falling economic growth rates. All Keynesian roads lead to stagflation. It is the result of economic mismanagement. Again and again, the belief has been proven wrong that central bankers could guarantee the so-called price stability and that fiscal policy could prevent economic downturns. The present crisis is one more piece of evidence that interventionist monetary and fiscal...

Maybe last Friday’s pretty awful payroll report shouldn’t have been surprising; though, to be fair, just calling it awful will be surprising to most people. Confusion surrounds the figures for good reason, though there truly is no reason for the misunderstanding itself. Apart from Economists and “central bankers” who’d rather everyone look elsewhere for the real problem. The Establishment Survey was right in the (statistical) zone, so for most of the public the...

Paul Buitink talks to Jeff Snider of Alhambra Investments. Jeff explains how Russia, despite the sanctions, is still using the eurodollar system to transact internationally, for example by using off-shore banks across the world and middle-men in China and India. Not being part of Swift is difficult but doesn't stop them from using the eurodollar system. Jeff comments on the ruble exchange rate and how the threat of stopping gas or payments provide for mutually assured destruction between...

Der Support bröckelte in den vergangenen Tagen weiter, so dass Bitcoin erst unterhalb von 30K wieder stabil wurde – der Markt reagierte mit Panik. Doch es gibt auch gute Nachrichten, die man erkennt, wenn man sich die langfristigen Daten des BTC-Preises ansieht. Bitcoin News: Bitcoin Crash sorgt für Panik im MarktAktuell ist der Bitcoin nur noch 28.400 US-Dollar wert. Ein neues Jahrestief vom Wochenanfang wurde damit nochmals unterboten. Doch die allgemeine Panik des...

Overview: Global equities are bleeding lower. Several large markets in the Asia Pacific region, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and India are off more than 2%. Japan and Australian bourses fell by more than 1.5%. Europe's Stoxx 600 is off more than 2% and giving back the gains recorded in the past two sessions plus some. US futures are extending yesterday's loses. The sharp sell-off of equities has given the sovereign bond market a strong bid. The 10-year US Treasury...

The bond market is allegedly populated by the “smart” set, whereas those trading equities derided as the “dumb” money (not without some truth). I often wonder if it’s either/or. The fixed income system just went through this scarcely three years ago, yet all signs and evidence point to another repeat. So, how smart can Eurobond agents really be if they’ve gone and done it again? What is it? Let’s roll the clock back to the landmine of 2018. Collateral shortage,...

The origins of the federal student loan program are well documented and follow a similar trajectory to most government subsidy programs in American history. Each previous government subsidy program has had a history of mismanagement, inefficiency, backwards incentives, and inflationary pressure via creation and distribution of new dollars in exchange for goods and services at rates below their market value. The federal takeover of student loans is a subsidy because...

“We live in a time where few understand how things get made. It is fine to not know where stuff comes from, but it isn’t fine to not know where stuff comes from while dictating to the rest of us how the economy should be run.” —Doomberg Eighty-five percent of human energy usage comes from burning things. Either plants or trees grown in a geologically recent past or plants or trees (and decomposed animals) from ancient times. Solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc.—all...

[This foreword to Henry Hazlitt’s Failure of the New Economics (available at mises.org free in PDF, ebook, and audiobook) was first published in National Review, August 15, 1959.] For most people, economics has ever been the “dismal science,” to be passed over quickly for more amusing sport. And yet, a glance at the world today will show that we pass over economics at our peril. The influence of economic ideas on human history, especially political history, has been...