SNB & CHF

In this week's episode, Mark looks at the type information that investors need, but do not have. These anti-wild cards are going to appear in the economy, but no one really knows what, where, or when. Mark looks back at some historical examples. See also Surprised Again! The Covid Crisis and the New Market Bubble by Alex Pollock and Howard Adler: Mises.org/MI_59A Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues. Get your free copy of Dr. Guido...

The US dollar and interest rates appear to be at an inflection point. Much of the past several weeks have been about correcting the overshoot that took place in  Q4 23, when the derivatives markets were pricing in nearly seven quarter-point rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. US two- and 10-year interest rates set new three-month highs last week. With the help of economic data and comments by Fed officials, the market, as it did a few times last year, has...

Christianity Today magazine, founded by Billy Graham, chose Christopher Watkin’s book, Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture, as one of its 2024 Book Awards and the book most likely “to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture.” Other Christian organizations promote the book too. Nonreligious readers won’t care, but they need to keep in mind that most people won’t take a class or read a book on economics....

In Freedom and the Law, Bruno Leoni argues that the main threat to liberty comes not from overweening officials but from the law that empowers them. As Murray Rothbard puts it, “The real and underlying menace to individual freedom is not the administrator but the legislative statute that makes the administrative ruling possible.” In that light, we can see that woke tyranny does not come from the self-important diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officers who claim...

Students apply for a scholarship here. "Once in a great while, a book appears that both embodies and dramatically extends centuries of accumulated wisdom in a particular discipline, and, at the same time, radically challenges the intellectual and political consensus of the day. Human Action by Ludwig von Mises is such a book, and more: a comprehensive treatise on economic science that would lay the foundation for a massive shift in intellectual opinion that is still...

At the end of September 2023, driving was banned on a 60 metre section of Langstrasse in Zurich. To enforce the ban, cameras were later set up on 8 January 2024 to catch and fine errant drivers. Since then 17,310 fines have been issued. © Thomas-Stoiber – Dreamstime.comThe driving ban, which excludes buses, was introduced to make the area more cycling friendly and applies from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. At CHF 100 each, the recent fines have generated 1.7 million of...

Dave Smith makes the Rothbardian/Hoppean case for government restriction on immigration, arguing that it's a second-best solution given the undeniable fact of government control of "public" property. Bob plays devil's advocate to raise possible objections to Dave's framework. Rothbard, "Nations by Consent": Mises.org/HAP436a Hans-Hermann Hoppe, "On Free Immigration and Forced Integration": Mises.org/HAP436b Bryan Caplan, "A Radical Case for Open Borders":...

The American bankruptcy show of the twenty-first century continues unabated with federal and state government spending. History reveals that some states have defaulted through not meeting a required bond payment, leaving the bondholders and that state’s taxpayers with a debt problem. Today, we might call a state government bond payment default a bankruptcy. Many bankruptcy filings today are governed by Chapters 7, 9, 11, and 13 of the United States bankruptcy code,...

What changed in the economy is now nobody can afford to get by on working-class wages because there’s no longer any bargains. The economy has changed in many ways, and it’s difficult to track the glacial movements over decades. One change that few seem to recognize or discuss is the disappearance of bargains: cheap rent, cheap meals at hole-in-the-wall restaurants, cheap transport, cheap travel, cheap services–all gone. Back in the day, even stupidly expensive...

Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experimentby Allen C. GuelzoAlfred A. Knopf, 2024; 247 pp. Allen Guelzo has been carried away by Abraham Lincoln’s magniloquent rhetoric. Guelzo, a historian who has written a number of books about Lincoln, would like very much to believe that his hero was a champion of individual rights and economic freedom. Lincoln’s ideal for America was of a nation with a large number of small businesses, allowing people to...