For religions throughout the world, established rules, studies, and practices are instrumental for their legitimacy. Established religious institutions throughout the world train theologians to study the nature of God and their belief system. For the Sunni Muslims, theologians in the Hanafi school consist of legal studies in line with Islam, while others like the Murji’ah sect focus on moral teachings of work and faith. Catholics too prescribe specialized areas of...
Read More »Don’t Knock Nock
Albert Jay Nock’s Our Enemy the State, which was published nearly ninety years ago in 1935, had a great influence on Murray Rothbard, transmitted though his friend and mentor Frank Chodorov, who was Nock’s main follower. The book is rich in insights, some of which I have discussed in a forthcoming review for The Misesian, but there are many more. In what follows, I’ll comment on some of these.Nock distinguishes two ways in which people in a community can co-exist....
Read More »Swiss study identifies humour as workplace stress reliever
Humor as a tool for stress relief in the workplace Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article Toggle language selector...
Read More »FX Becalmed Ahead of the Weekend and Next Week’s Big Events
Overview: The dollar is trading quietly, with a slightly firmer today. There has been little follow-through selling after yesterday's setback. The Canadian dollar and sterling are faring best. The yen is a little softer after Tokyo's CPI came in lower as expected due to the government's energy subsidy. The election for the lower house of the Diet is held Sunday. Emerging market currencies are also mostly softer. The JP Morgan Emerging Market Currency Index is poised...
Read More »Lower Forward Returns Are A High Probability Event
I was emailed several times about a recent Morningstar article about J.P. Morgan’s warning of lower forward returns over the next decade. That was followed up by numerous emails about Goldman Sachs’ recent warnings of 3% annualized returns over the next decade. While we have previously covered many of these article’s points, a comprehensive analysis is needed. Let’s start with the overall conclusion from JP Morgan’s article: “The investment bank’s models...
Read More »Venezuelan Gangs, Affordable Housing, and Bad Policy
For years I have held up Venezuela in my economics classes as an example of bad government policy. Now it appears that the fallout from those policies has led to more crime being exported to cities across the US. Perhaps unsurprisingly, due to our proximity to the border, San Antonio is one of those cities.SAPD, along with “multiple state and federal agencies,” arrested several people in a northside apartment complex last weekend on suspicions of human trafficking,...
Read More »Swiss Steel denies insolvency rumours
Swiss Steel categorically denies rumors of insolvency proceedings Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article Toggle language selector...
Read More »Online lending market shrinks in Switzerland
Decline in credit volume on online platforms in 2023 Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article Toggle language selector...
Read More »Minsky Meltdowns and Modern Monetary Theory
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) posits that booms and busts can be explained by private versus public sectoral balances and the inherent instability of private financial markets. Stephanie Kelton frequently points to this graph of public and private surpluses and deficits:The red bars show the government’s budget as a percent of GDP. When the government spends more than it collects in taxes, it runs a deficit and sells debt. The government’s debt is sold domestically...
Read More »USD/CHF hovers around 0.8650, upside likelihood appears possible as the US election looms
USD/CHF may appreciate further due to fading odds of bumper rate cuts by the Fed in 2024. The US Dollar receives support from market caution ahead of the US presidential election. The recent lower Swiss inflation rate increased the dovish sentiment surrounding the SNB. USD/CHF remains steady after registering losses in the previous session, maintaining its position above 0.8650 during Asian trading hours on Friday. This level is near its...
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