SNB & CHF

In March 2014 the world’s oldest central bank, the Bank of England (BoE), did every advocate of sound money a big but unintentional favor by publishing an official introduction to and an official detailed account of unsound money. Given both the importance of and the lack of publicity regarding these two seminal papers over the past nine years, even here at mises.org, the focus in this piece will be on quoting some of the BoE’s “greatest hits.” (This approach was...

Republicans and Democrats may quibble over how federal tax dollars might be spent on various social welfare programs like Medicaid and food stamps. But alongside Social Security, there is one area of federal spending that everyone can apparently agree on: military spending. Last year, the Biden administration requested one of the largest peacetime budgets ever, at $813 billion. Congress wanted even more spending and ended up approving a budget of $858 billion. In...

Overview: The support for First Republic Bank shown by a consortium of US banks by shifting $30 bln of deposits is helping break the financial anxiety that has gripped the market for more than a week. The liquidity provisions for Credit Suisse by the Swiss National Bank also are contributing to improved sentiment. The Fed's balance sheet expanded sharply last week as the bridge banks were extended credit to help the unwind of SVB and Signature Bank. Discount window...

Never before have we seen an entire generation of young Americans being censored—and self-censoring—for making innocuous statements. This does not end well. Original Article: "The Censored Generation" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.  [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

We can also predict that the next round of instability will be more severe than the previous bout of instability. Everyone is in favor of “doing whatever it takes” to “restore financial stability” when the house of cards starts swaying, but funny things happen on the way to “Restoring Financial Stability.” Whatever “emergency measures” are rushed into service to “stabilize” an inherently unstable system resolve the immediate problem but opens unseen doors to new...

San Francisco’s panel on reparations has issued a recommendation that qualified black residents in that city receive $5 million in reparations for the financial effects of slavery and/or racial discrimination. There was never slavery in the city of San Francisco, but the panel nevertheless suggested that city inhabitants must atone for racial discrimination. Such calls for reparations to black people are based on the notion of collective white guilt. But collective...

It's popular for politicians to claim they will never cut Social Security. But doing nothing now about the program means imposing an even larger hit on seniors in the future.  Original Article: "Why Biden's Spending Is Unsustainable" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.  [embedded content]...

People are arguing over whether artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will eliminate human employment. People seem to have an all-or-nothing belief that either the use of technology in the workplace will destroy human employment and purpose or it won’t affect it at all. The replacement of human jobs with robotics and AI is known as “technological unemployment.” Although robotics can turn materials into economic goods in a fraction of the time it would take a...

Die Krise der Credit Suisse wird nach Einschätzung eines renommierten Branchenexperten von JPMorgan mit einer Übernahme der Bank enden. Die Analysten unter der Leitung des langjährigen und bekannten Bankanalysten Kian Abouhossein haben drei Szenarien für die Zukunft der Credit Suisse durchgespielt. Eine Übernahme halten sie für die wahrscheinlichste Option, und als Übernehmer kommt für sie am ehesten der Lokalrivale UBS in Frage. Einer Übernahme durch die UBS...

Overview: The pendulum of market psychology is swinging dramatically. Amid the US banking crisis, Credit Suisse's long-running pressures percolated back to top-of-mind, sending ripples through the capital markets, trigging a sharp slide in the euro. The SNB support is helping the markets calm today. The odds of a 50 bp hike by the ECB today have been cut to about 50% compared with a nearly 100% a week ago. The market has about a 66% chance of a 25 bp hike by the Fed...