SNB & CHF

Thanks to all of our generous donors who are participating in our 2023 Fall Campaign. Your continued support is vital and much appreciated. Donors are added daily. Won't you join them? Monday, September 25 Abdelhamid Abdou Adam BattlesAdam DengAlan ZibelmanAndreas HübnerAnonymousAndrew WindsorArthur KnolleAnonymousBarb WhitemanBridget SantosCarl ChambersCarlos Aixerch MateuCharles CrawleyCharles DemastusChris Lingwall, In honor of Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell...

Hans-Hermann Hoppe, in his book Democracy: The God That Failed and his 1995 article in the Journal of Libertarian Studies, set forth an interesting theory concerning the difference in time preference between a monarch and a democratic politician. The argument stresses the difference in the use of political power according to the degree to which the ruler is future oriented. Hoppe also says that using the power of the state is in itself an expression of high time...

While Leo Strauss did not share G.W.F. Hegel's acceptance of historicism, nonetheless he gives Hegel a sympathetic review. David Gordon takes a closer look at both men. Original Article: Understanding Hegel from a Straussian Viewpoint [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) embargo on sales of crude oil from their member countries to the United States was a response to US support for Israel in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War against invading Egyptian and Syrian military forces. This oil embargo raised barrel prices on the open market and, when combined with US price controls, reduced the amount of oil available in the US for refining into gasoline, leading to domestic gasoline...

Overview: The US dollar is stabilizing a bit but only after extending its gains initially It reached almost JPY149.20, while the euro slipped to $1.0570 before recovering to straddle $1.06 in the European morning. Sterling sank a little through $1.2170 but stabilized to return to almost $1.2200. The Australian dollar tested last week's low slightly below $0.6390 before resurfacing above $0.6400. The US dollar toyed with CAD1.3500, where there is a large option...

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday left the target policy interest rate (the federal funds rate) unchanged at 5.5 percent. This "pause" in the target rate suggests the FOMC believes it has raised the target rate high enough to rein in price inflation which has run well above the Fed's arbitrary two-percent inflation target since mid-2021.  The press release from the FOMC was largely unchanged from previous recent meetings and...

The most recent edition of the US Army War College’s academic journal includes a highly disturbing essay on what lessons the US military should take away from the continuing war in Ukraine. By far the most concerning and most relevant section for the average American citizen is a subsection entitled “Casualties, Replacements, and Reconstitutions” which, to cut right to the chase, directly states, “Large-scale combat operations troop requirements may well require a...

The UAW's strike against US automakers will do long-term damage to the domestic auto industry. Unfortunately, unions and their advocates will learn nothing from this debacle. Original Article: Strikes Always Have Economic Consequences and the Latest UAW Strike Is No Exception [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter...

Recently, anyone who pays attention to current events has been assaulted with the news that both the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ unions are striking simultaneously for the first time since 1960. Workers for UPS also recently reached a deal with their employer after threats of a nationwide strike by the Teamsters union. Although many may think that unions are a thing of the past and are no longer relevant, they clearly remain both a political and economic force to...

Fed policymaking is all about political expedience. When we see Fed policy, we must keep in mind that "managing the economy" is secondary to managing public debt service and public expectations. Original Article: August Price Inflation Accelerated, and the Fed Fears More Is in Store [embedded content] Tags:...