SNB & CHF

Voluntary exchange is the core of all market economies. It is the lifeblood that propels innovation, societal welfare, and progress, creating intricate webs of interconnected transactions that heighten productivity. In pursuit of profits, businesses sell and improve their products to outperform competitors and increasingly capture market shares, spurring the development of novel ideas and solutions. As Michael Matulef puts it, “The constant push for improvement and...

[Editor’s note: This article originally ran on LewRockwell.com on July 28, 2000. Even before the Bush-Gore election wrapped up, Rockwell put his finger on what the Republicans had in store for America. For those who paid attention to Rockwell in this period, they were not shocked when the Bush administration came out in favor of the TSA, the Patriot Act, the NSA, the destruction of the Fourth Amendment, and more. 9/11 was an excuse to impose a police state on...

I’ve always been skeptical of government-backed monopolies and coercive institutions. Insurance—particularly home insurance in hurricane-prone areas—has long been a prime example of such a scheme. In the past weeks of hurricanes, when the winds cause catastrophic destruction and the rain pours down flooding entire cities, the insurance industry’s true nature is laid bare—a pyramid scheme that preys on the vulnerable and enriches the few at the expense of the many.In...

This year marks the 12-year anniversary of Ron Paul’s retirement from Congress, but his legacy continues to display itself on the political scene. On issues like foreign policy, war skepticism has grown, at least concerning American involvement in Europe. Abolishing the Department of Education has become a key tenant of Donald Trump’s education agenda. Eliminating taxes on tips has been adopted by both presidential campaigns.Less obvious, however, has been growing...

Late last month, Erik Prince, the founder of the Bush Administration’s mercenary army in Iraq—also known as Blackwater—expressed admiration for the State of Israel’s “pager attacks.” The attacks, which killed at least two children and critically injured many others, employed explosives in crowded civilian areas. Even a lose application of just war theory would force us to conclude such attacks are war crimes. Detonating bombs without any knowledge of where the bombs...

It is hard to exaggerate the importance of China in the future of gold even if the relationship falls short of monocausal. Beijing’s actual course both in economic policy and geopolitics since its giant bubble economy turned to bust — starting circa 2020 — has had a huge bearing on gold’s super-strong performance. By contrast if the bust were to spark somehow a triumph of economic and political freedom in China, a continuing stellar rise for gold would depend, most...

On October 23, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared NOW with Stacy Washington, to explain how the Chinese Communist Party is imitating what the Federal Reserve did in the early 2000s.The original episode is available on SalemNewsChannel.com.Stacy Washington (SW): Welcome back to Salem News Channel. There’s no room for argument when it comes to which candidate in this election will fix our economy. We know what both plans are, and John Paulson wrapped it up nicely on Fox...

Bankers Association takes a critical view of "too-big-to-fail" measures Keystone-SDA The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) is critical of a number of the measures proposed by the Federal Council for systemically important banks. This content was published on October 24, 2024 - 13:36 It is...

The “middle of the road” has become a popular position among those who find both free market capitalism and communism both to be extreme opposites. Despite the fall of the USSR, many still believe in various, often moderate, forms of socialism. This leads many to oppose a pure free market economy because they believe it is a radical idea prone to failure. With the failure of several socialist countries and systems, many are now becoming aware of the problems...

Donald Trump on Monday floated the idea that he might seek to replace the federal income tax with federal taxes on imports—also known as tariffs. This is potentially a good idea, but not for economic reasons. There is no economic reason why tariffs are any better or any worse than the income tax. A tariff, which is just a tax, is no less compulsory than the income tax. A tariff is no less destructive to private wealth and capital than the income tax. Contrary to...