SNB & CHF

Jeff Deist recently posed the question “Is College Worth It?” My first thought when I opened the article was that he could have reduced the entire piece to a single word: “no.” This cynicism might seem odd coming from somebody who is nearing the end of a PhD program in history, which takes an average of eight years to complete, not including the years spent acquiring a BA and, for many students, an MA before even starting on the doctorate. But this experience has...

The United Nations’ Security Council goal was to ensure the collective security of humanity. Seventy years after its creation the five-member council needs a massive shakeup if it is to address today’s challenges argues Hassan Nafaa, professor of Political Science at Cairo University. More than seven decades have passed since the United Nations was established to maintain international peace and security. Since then, the world’s political and social landscapes have...

Everything's fixed except what's no longer profitable to plunder. Underfunded, ignored, mismanaged by incompetents, it breaks. Everything's fixed--except what's broken. Hmm. Maybe we need to read that again. Everything's fixed means it's been "fixed" like a game or match has been fixed--rigged to benefit insiders while the unwary onlookers and punters have been led to believe that it's "fair and open." That con job is the critical cover to...

In the recent past, the political and economic backdrop has changed dramatically. Inflation is far too high almost everywhere, and central banks are raising their policy interest rates at a time when stocks of government debt are large. In some places, central bank independence is being publicly called into question. Threats to central banks’ independence, and thus to their ability to fulfil their monetary policy mandates, are particularly acute in the current...

13.10.2022 – The Producer and Import Price Index rose in September 2022 by 0.2% compared with the previous month, reaching 109.8 points (December 2020 = 100). In particular, petroleum and natural gas as well as agricultural products saw higher prices. Petroleum products, in contrast, became cheaper. Compared with September 2021, the price level of the whole range of domestic and imported products rose by 5.4%. These are the results from the Federal Statistical Office...

The Wall Street Journal reported on September 22 that Turkey’s central bank cut that country’s benchmark interest rate to 12 percent from 13 percent, pushing the Turkish lira lower as much as 0.4 percent against the dollar to a new record low after the decision. One US dollar recently bought 18.3866 lira. The bank of Prime Minister Recep Tyyip Erdoğan made its move the week following Drs. Hans and Gülçin Hoppe’s sixteenth annual Property and Freedom Society salon in...

While the world was focused on the UK and its gilt-y pound, the warning signs were everywhere how this was and remains eurodollar business. Global dollar shortage, emphasis on "global." Now Switzerland has seen US$ funding eroded within its borders - or maybe from outside - to the point the SNB is activating US$ swap lines with the Fed. Either way, sure seems like that escalating third deflationary wave markets (*especially* Japanese bills) have been warning about. Eurodollar...

Special Coverage from the New Orleans Investment Conference - Keith Weiner, CEO of Monetary Metals discuss how massive buying pressure is pushing gold & silver higher, QE in England, a FED Pivot, the USD & more. Guest: Keith Weiner, CEO Company: Monetary Metals Twitter: @RealKeithWeiner Youtube: @Monetary Metals Brought to you by: Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX: VGCX) #gold #silver DEUTSCHE GOLDMESSE November 18 & 19, 2022 in Frankfurt, Germany www.deutschegoldmesse.com...

Interview original date: July 22nd, 2021 Topics- Banks that don’t have reserve accounts with the FED (foreign banks etc): If you transfer dollar liabilities from a US bank to a credit union/foreign bank, what asset is transferred to match up those liabilities if the foreign bank/credit union doesn’t have a reserve account with the FED? Deposits, cash equivalents, bank money, foreign transactions, dollars, eurodollars, interbank methodologies/processes, settling claims, CHIPS,...

Overview: The dramatic moves spurred by the BOE maintaining the end of the week deadline for its Gilt purchases, which have been quite modest given its wherewithal, have calmed. Sterling is firmer on the day, though long-end Gilt yields are higher. The dollar has pushed above JPY145.90, where the BOJ intervened last month. Risk appetites more broadly appear to have stabilized, but we suggest it may be a modest bout of position adjusting ahead of tomorrow’s US CPI....