SNB & CHF

There is a sea change in how society views false accusations of sexual abuse. And it’s about time. The lawsuit John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard (2022) points to this transformation. Depp and Heard sued each other for defamation with “actual malice” over public accusations of domestic violence (DV) during their marriage; Heard also sued Depp’s attorney for making false statements. Unlike an earlier case brought by Depp in the United Kingdom, the American jury...

US trade deficits seem to be expanding, placing pressure on the dollar. However, central banks around the world are just as irresponsible as the Fed, masking the relative devaluation of US money. Original Article: "US Trade Deficits Are Growing Larger. Or Are They?" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

I put for the general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death.—Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan California continues to attack businesses and entrepreneurial freedom. Leviathan has awakened, this time with Assembly Bill 257, promoting a state-controlled trade union for all restaurant workers. Current United States secretary of labor Marty Walsh has left and become head of the National Hockey League’s...

Overview: The market continues to resist the Fed's signal that another 50 bp of hikes may be necessary to ensure inflation is headed toward its target. Previously, the market had rate cuts priced in, and it took some time for the Fed's push back to be accepted. The market converged with the Fed, and this helped the dollar recover. We suspect a similar pattern to play out again. The market does not have even one of the two Fed hikes discounted. As it moves in this...

Since 1960, Congress has raised the debt ceiling 78 times, according to Bloomberg. The process of increasing the debt limit has become so regular that markets barely worry about it. Furthermore, as the 2011 debt ceiling crisis showed, the impact on asset prices happened mostly in emerging economies. In 2011, Turkish and Indian debt were the most negatively impacted, while Treasuries rose. Politicians believe that raising the debt ceiling is a social policy and that...

While F.A. Hayek's famous 1945 essay effectively critiques the "perfect information" hypothesis, it is an inadequate explanation of the issue of economic calculation. Original Article: "The Market Process Is Not a Knowledge Problem" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

After reading a few blog entries (see the Defending the Republic series), I have wondered why people who do not seem to benefit from social justice efforts support and endorse them. Why would a male push an agenda designed to deny his rights? Why do companies embrace the environmental, social, and governance agenda when it potentially makes them less competitive through lowered standards, higher costs, and policies that prevent talent from reaching its highest state?...

Political leaders of the so-called liberal Western regimes are engaging in authoritarian tactics to quell legitimate dissent. But leftists who riot and burn get a free pass. Original Article: "Rise of the Effete Authoritarians" [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists. In this program, we present another part of "Ten Great Economic Myths". This material was prepared by Murray N. Rothbard. Those people who are properly worried about the deficit unfortunately offer an unacceptable solution: increasing taxes. Curing deficits by raising taxes is equivalent to...

The conditions have now aligned for a repeat of the major stock market crashes that have occurred since the founding of the US Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) in 1913. Considering their vast experience and resources, the Fed has to know that their plan to control inflation by raising interest rates rapidly and significantly since 2022, and also tightening credit this year, will likely result in another major crash. Although the Fed has issued vague warnings about the...