SNB & CHF

This week, we're in Davos to cover the 2024 edition of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Here are three facts about this year's WEF: 🌍 Geopolitics is crucial. 🚨 High security level. 💰 Incredibly high prices. Do you have any questions about WEF? Let us know in the comments. And tap here to read more about Ukraine and Switzerland's joint efforts for a peace plan 👉 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/ukraine-and-switzerland-urge-countries-to-support-peace-plan-in-davos-/49126542

Overview: The US dollar is bid across the board and posting its best session of the month. It is up between about 0.5% (Canadian dollar) to almost 1.0% (Australian dollar) among the G10 currencies. Among the emerging market currencies, only the Russian ruble is holding its own. Approaching CNY7.20, the greenback is near two-month highs against the yuan. The dollar has been bolstered by rising US rates. The US two-year yield is up six basis points to near 4.20%,...

May 16–18, 2024:  Join Dr. Joseph T. Salerno, Dr. Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Dr. Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Dr. Joseph T. Salerno, Dr. Mark Thornton, and more for a conference in honor of the 75th anniversary of Human Action at our campus in Auburn. Space is limited. Register here.  There are many good reasons why those who aspire to learn and practice sound economics should read Human Action. However, the reader should approach the book with care and humility. For a book as...

Taxes are not a contractual obligation between the state and the individuals it governs. By definition, taxes are noncontractual debts in which the state is the creditor, and the payment of these debts is demanded through coercion and violence. While there may be taxes linked to the performance of certain economic activities (e.g., the sale of products), all forms of this economic policy share the characteristic of being indifferent to the consent of those...

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is visiting Switzerland this week. The official state visit by China’s second highest ranking official signals a renewal in Sino-Swiss ties and the kick-off of his “high-level exchange” with Europe. Here’s what you need to know about official Swiss-Chinese relations. Born in London, Simon is a multimedia journalist who has worked for www.swissinfo.ch since 2006. He speaks French, German and Spanish and focuses on science, technology and...

To the Chinese reader: It is safe to say that economics suffers at least as many fallacies and misunderstandings as any other field of study. Had physics suffered the same level of issues, we would not have seen much—if any—of the progress that we have made over the past centuries. Yet, economics—the queen of the social sciences—keeps being misrepresented, if not abused, and we suffer the consequences. Those consequences are primarily in the form of the “unseen,” or...

With the Houthis in Yemen firing on commercial ships in the Red Sea, the US is contemplating yet another Middle East conflict. As we see again, aggression leads to more aggression. Original Article: The Escalating Tensions in the Red Sea Are a Bad Omen [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

All of us have experienced government road closures and the traffic and safety nightmares they create. Private roads may be the answer to solving the problem. Original Article: Privatizing Roads Solves the Problem of Road Closures [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

The Rothbard Graduate Seminar (RGS) provides an opportunity to learn about Austrian economics at a high level. Original Article: Reflections on the Rothbard Graduate Seminar [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome “Jay” Powell, recently sent mysterious shock waves into financial markets with comments that suggested that Fed rate cuts might come sooner than expected. Stock and bond markets took this as a good sign. They were already in a Santa Claus rally and broke out to new highs for the year. The interest rate on ten-year government bonds, which had already fallen by almost 1 percent since October, threatened to break support and go...