SNB & CHF

People cavil much about Ricardo’s law of association, better known under the name law of comparative cost. The reason is obvious. This law is an offense to all those eager to justify protection and national economic isolation from any point of view other than the selfish interests of some producers or the issues of war-preparedness. —Ludwig von Mises, Human Action Alexander Macris of the Substack blog Contemplations on the Tree of Woe has called attention to Ian...

Swiss electricity companies are warning that a lack of agreement with the European Union over energy supplies is hampering Switzerland’s ability to import electricity and could compromise its grid stability. They say Switzerland will not be able to achieve its energy and climate targets by 2050 without a high level of acceptance for new energy infrastructure and close energy cooperation with the EU. We take a closer look at Switzerland’s electricity landscape in this short...

The real effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima were hidden from Americans until the New Yorker published an exposé in 1946. Americans finally were confronted with the truth—even if they didn't want to believe it. Original Article: "The Bombing of Hiroshima: The Crime and the Cover-Up" [embedded content] Tags:...

Former president Donald Trump is facing ninety-one criminal charges as he seeks to win back the White House in 2024. The indictments are the latest battle in a roughly six-year crusade against Trump that first sought to remove him from power through the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, then with espionage charges and impeachments, and that now aims to block him from becoming president again. The mantra we hear from those in politics and media who support these efforts is that...

Overview: Bonds and stocks are mostly heavier today and the dollar has turned mixed. Oil prices are consolidating after soaring to new highs since late last year on the longer than expected extension of Saudi Arabia's extra cut of one million barrels a day. Since July, it has been extending it by one month at a time. Yesterday, it extended it through Q4. Russia, who had previously indicated intentions on reducing its exports by 500k barrels, announced it was...

Much of government-owned transportation destroys rather than adds to wealth. The lack of a sound system of economic calculation is to blame. Original Article: "The Problem with Public Transit" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

It’s likely that many readers of The Austrian support the free market and also support “traditional” social values, but in Patrick Deneen’s opinion, this is an unstable amalgam. Deneen, a political theorist who teaches at Notre Dame, thinks that the market undermines tradition and that those of us who resist the “woke” Left and want to preserve tradition ought to abandon what he sees as an uncritical devotion to the market. Deneen says that classical and medieval...

Despite its origin in Marxist-syndicalist thought, “fascism” has long been used as a derogatory label for practically anyone on the right wing of the political spectrum. Sometimes the label is warranted, but other times it is used against those who have virtually nothing in common with fascists, such as libertarian capitalists. Progressives are quick to label any kind of economic deregulation and reduction in federal overreach as “fascist.” Want to have a free...

Ludwig von Mises and F.A. Hayek, two of the best-known Austrian school economists in the twentieth century, may have followed the same school of thought, but they greatly differed in their work. In consideration of human action, the two men differed in their methodology: Mises advocated for a pure use of reason through praxeology, and Hayek, alternatively, defended the compositive method. In regard to the market process and entrepreneurship, Mises’s and Hayek’s views...

“In Russia he can do whatever he wants”. Listen to Sergei Pugachev, Vladimir Putin’s former adviser talking about the president of Russia. For the first time, Pugachev opened his private residence in Nice to our journalist Elena Servettaz. Make sure you’re subscribed to our YouTube channel to get notified when the full interview goes live. --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on...