Claudio Grass

After the catastrophic covid crisis of 2020 and 2021, the extremely impactful and consequential Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many hoped that 2023 would break this terrible bad spell and finally present us all with some hope, economically, geopolitically, socially, technologically. Unfortunately, it only offered further reasons for serious concerns on all these fronts.  Economically, even though the official inflation rate followed a downward trajectory, in most major...

Part II of II, by Claudio Grass, Switzerland One of the maxims I tend to mention quite often in sociopolitical debates or in response to arguments about the flawlessness of the democratic process is “the smallest minority is the individual”. To some, it might sound trite or banal, and perhaps it is; but it does carry a meaning that I believe is an essential human value and a fundamental building block for any civilized, productive and prosperous society. Any group of people,...

Part I of II, by Claudio Grass, Switzerland It is a worn-out cliché that many (if not most) political zealots meet their downfall because of their arrogance. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall,” the proverb goes, and it does prove true more often than not. The specific kind of pride, or haughty spirit, or plain hubris in this case, has to do with the certainty that some people have (one can’t imagine how and why it could have been originally...

Part II of II by Claudio Grass, Hünenberg See, Switzerland This is precisely what the State is doing. The idea of war, mayhem and destruction being economic boosters is exactly what has supported the thin facade that politicians like to place over their greed and their personal gain that they derive from the military industrial complex. “It’s good for the country”, is certainly easier to sell than “it’s good for me and my reelection campaign”. The taxpayer will not see...

Part I of II by Claudio Grass For any reasonably well read adult, any amateur student of history or any responsible citizen for that matter, the idea that ”war is the health of the State” should be adjacent to a truism. After all, literally nobody benefits from violence and bloodshed apart from those at the heart of any State that is directly or indirectly involved and their cronies. In fact, the more horrific the violence and the more protracted the bloodshed, the greater the...

Dani Stüssi interview with Claudio Grass Over the last few years, the financial woes and daily pressures that have been unleashed upon the average citizen, saver and taxpayer have put the spotlight on money itself. Countless ordinary people who have otherwise never seriously pondered these questions, began to question basic principles like: what makes their paycheck shrink from month to month, what or who actually responsible of it and what, if anything, they can do to protect...

Part II of II by Claudio Grass, Hünenberg See, Switzerland For those of us who have studied history, these Ingenuous beliefs and expectations likely bring a smirk to our face. However, these are entirely reasonable assumptions for most citizens, as the majority of the population is blissfully unaware of the numerous real-life examples that clearly demonstrate just how capable and how eager the government is to do these things – to fail, or to lie, or much more habitually, to do...

Part I of II by Claudio Grass, Hünenberg See, Switzerland To most observant citizens and diligent investors it is surely quite obvious that the current monetary, fiscal and banking system is inherently flawed, hopelessly unjust, corrupt, unsustainable and simply destined to collapse sooner or later. With every (predictable) recession and every (foreseeable) crisis, this structure gets weaker; its very own architects increasingly second-guess it, mistrust and question it and the...

At the end of September, a very interesting story made the rounds in the media and caught my attention. Apparently, the US big box giant Costco added one rather surprising product to its range and it proved immensely popular. Next to humongous multipacks of cereal, buckets of peanut butter, mattresses and air fryers, customers were offered the opportunity to throw a gold bar in their carts as well.  Selling like hotcakes  According to a recent CBS report: “The discount retailer...

Part II of II by Claudio Grass, Switzerland Over the last couple of years, we saw countless examples of free speech suppression and of the steep price paid by those who chose to exercise that right. Divergent ideas and thoughts contradicting the government narrative were silenced and often punished in ways that would have been entirely unimaginable before the covid outbreak.  No matter what one thinks about the pandemic, about the policies and the measures that were imposed and...