SNB & CHF

The Census Bureau provided some updated inventory estimates about wholesalers, including its annual benchmark revisions. As to the latter, not a whole lot was changed, a small downward revision right around the peak (early 2021) of the supply shock which is consistent with the GDP estimates for when inventory levels were shrinking fast. What’s worth noting about the figures now is how much of a problem there is in terms of petroleum. By that I mean two ways. First,...

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was met with unprecedented economic sanctions by the United States and its allies in order to cripple Russia’s capacity to wage war. Never before in post–World War II history has an economy of Russia’s size been reprimanded with such force. Moreover, the sanctions could remain in place after the war ends and reach other major economies too, in particular China. In this case, current sanctions could be the harbinger of a...

The states of Europe have more than enough wealth and military potential to deal with a second-rate power like Russia. The American taxpayers, on the other hand, deserve a break from Europe’s grifting. Original Article: “NATO: Our International Welfare Queens” American policy makers have shown a surprising amount of sanity so far in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While some war enthusiasts among the American punditry have certainly been agitating for...

Petrodollar? There's no such thing. We didn't transition from a gold- to an oil-backed dollar. There was something else, another kind of dollar—hidden by a conspiracy of silence between '44 and '73. Instead the world transitioned from a gold-backed US dollar to a offshore, ledger-based bank-centered eurodollar. This same eurodollar system absorbed petrodollars, easily. ----EP. 215 REFERENCES---- There Are No Petrodollars, Plus the Focus Misses the Point: https://bit.ly/3xjpzTQ...

According to the newspaper Le Matin Swiss health insurance premiums could rise by 7% to 9%, reported RTS. Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.comThe future rise in the cost of health insurance is estimated based on data on the rising healthcare costs being passed on to health insurance companies. According to the data, costs rose during the second half of 2021. Across all of 2021 costs were up by 5.1% and the trend appears to have continued. Several politicians...

It may be years before we fully realize the ramifications of the lockdown policies governments around the world have imposed on their citizens in response to covid-19, but evidence of the costs is starting to trickle in. A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveyed thousands of high school students on the effects of the pandemic. “Since the beginning of the pandemic,” the study reports, “more than half of students found it...

Noch wurde Bitcoin nicht im ganzen Land als legales Zahlungsmittel akzeptiert, doch auf einer Insel vor der Küste Honduras hat nun ein lokales Gericht diese Deklarierung bekanntgegeben. Damit stellt sich das lokale Gericht sogar gegen die Zentralbank das Landes. Bitcoin News: Honduras akzeptiert Bitcoin als legales ZahlungsmittelDie Insel ist Teil einer sogenannten „Economic Zone“, die als „Honduras Prospera“ bezeichnet wird. Erst 2020 gegründet, hat es sich die Zone...

Someone once said that the stock market is always climbing a wall of worry. Maybe that had been true in some long-ago day, but whether or not it might nowadays is beside the point. The nugget of truth which makes the prosaism memorable is the wall rather than the climber. There’s always something going on somewhere to get worked up over. And it matters to far more than financial actors, the entire global economy must surmount what can seem like an unending series of...

In the New York Times article “How High Inflation Will Come Down,” Paul Krugman suggests that the key for future inflation is inflation expectations. Krugman does not think that currently inflation expectations are comparable to the 1980s. According to him: Forty years ago, as many economists will tell you, inflation was “entrenched” in the economy. That is, businesses, workers and consumers were making decisions based on the belief that high inflation would continue...

The Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, March 18, 20221 Many thanks to the Mises Institute and to sponsor Yousif Almoayyed for this opportunity to be with you all today as we consider one of the truly remarkable developments in the history of American central banking, money printing, and credit inflation. On a personal note, “the pursuit of clarity” has long been a goal of mine, and it’s a particular pleasure to present a lecture in honor of Henry Hazlitt, whose work is...