SNB & CHF

Often, and apparently wrongly attributed to Mark Twain is the observation that it is not what we know that gets into trouble, but “what we know that just ain’t so.” Now though, investors suffer from a different problem. Several processes are in motion, and there is little confidence in their outcomes. Among these are Brexit, US-China trade, the trajectory of Fed policy, and the EC’s efforts to enforce the agreed-upon...

Diplomats and finance ministry officials have the highest travel-related expenses, The expenses of Swiss civil servants added up to CHF 121.7 million ($122 million) last year, according to the SonntagsBlick newspaper. Counting the 34,800 full-time positions in the federal administration in 2016, that level of spending amounts to almost CHF3,500 per civil servant. The biggest spender is the defence ministry, with an...

Shelter your Portfolio from the Bonds COLLAPSE: http://www.PortfolioWealthGlobal.com/Bonds Get Immediate Access to our Exclusive Report on the Coming STOCK MARKET CRASH: http://www.portfoliowealthglobal.com/crash/ Download Our Top 5 Cryptocurrencies for 2018 AT: http://www.portfoliowealthglobal.com/top5/ The Gold Bull Market is Weeks Away From Hitting FULL THROTTLE. Get Educated NOW: http://www.portfoliowealthglobal.com/goldplaybook/ Cannabis Legalization is a HUGE Industry - the...

Keith Weiner is a leading authority in the areas of gold, money, and credit and has made important contributions to the development of trading techniques founded upon the analysis of bid-ask spreads. He is the founder of DiamondWare, a software company sold to Nortel in 2008, and he currently serves as President of the Gold Standard Institute USA. He earned his PhD from the (non-accredited) New Austrian School of Economics. This speech was given at the Capitalism & Morality seminar in...

Keith Weiner is a leading authority in the areas of gold, money, and credit and has made important contributions to the development of trading techniques founded upon the analysis of bid-ask spreads. He is the founder of DiamondWare, a software company sold to Nortel in 2008, and he currently serves as President of the Gold Standard Institute USA. He earned his PhD from the (non-accredited) New Austrian School of Economics. This speech was given at the Capitalism & Morality seminar in...

Disappointing consumption numbers point to growth deceleration in early 2019, but government measures beginning to be felt. Hard data out of China for October was mixed. On the positive side, growth in infrastructure picked up, suggesting the government’s fiscal policy easing is taking effect in the real economy. Industrial production numbers stopped declining, and the mining sector has a particularly strong...

© Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com A government commission looking at the rate, called for a reduction to 0.75%, while unions demanded a rise to 1.25%. In the end the Federal Council decided to take the middle road and leave the rate at 1% for 2019. The rate is the minimum pension funds must apply to employment related 2nd pillar pension assets in 2019. Some pension funds are concerned about the long term effect imposed...

But significant political challenges lie ahead before the 29 March deadline for Brexit. Sterling likely to be in the spotlight for several months. Theresa May’s cabinet has approved her divorce deal with the European Union (EU). A few cabinet secretaries have resigned, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab because the deal keeps the UK in a transitory ‘customs union’ with the EU, which in his view continues to give...

A Spitex employee checks on an old lady at her home in Biel, northwestern Switzerland Better at home than in a home: almost 350,000 people made use of assistance and home-care services (Spitex) last year, 10,000 more than in 2016. In contrast, the number of residents of old-age and nursing homes remained constant at 149,000, 15% of them for a short stay. Spitexexternal link, a Swiss non-profit organisation that provides...

Does any of this make sense? No. But it’s so darn profitable to the oligarchy, it’s difficult to escape debt-serfdom and tax-donkey servitude. We rarely ask “does this make any sense?” of things that are widely accepted as beneficial – or if not beneficial, “the way it is,” i.e. it can’t be changed by non-elite (i.e. the bottom 99.5%) efforts. Of the vast array of things that don’t make sense, let’s start with borrowing...