Tag Archives: Featured

Interview with Václav Klaus To many of us, no matter how well versed in history, in political affairs or in socioeconomic issues, the present conditions in the West, and especially in Europe, can sometimes seem like the plot of a bad movie. It is often said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme, and what we’re seeing today is a great example of that. Nevertheless, one would have expected that at least some of those in charge of the “big decisions”...

Overview: Anxiety is running high. Rather than ease its Covid restrictions, a surge in cases is seeing more areas in China come under restrictions. The US reports CPI and of the ten reports this year, seven of them have been stronger than expected. The turmoil in the crypto space has gotten noticed even by those not involved. Asia Pacific bourses fell, led by Hong Kong, and Europe’s Stoxx 600 is off for a second day. US equity futures are slightly firmer. US and...

Christie’s said an unidentified Asian buyer snapped up the diamond. © Keystone / Martial Trezzini A pear-shaped 18-carat pink diamond billed as a rarity has sold at a Geneva auction for CHF28.4 million ($28.8 million), including fees and taxes. The “Fortune Pink” fancy vivid pink stone, said to be the largest of its kind and shape to go on the block, headlined Christie’s latest Geneva sale of jewellery. It had been expected to fetch between $25 million and $35...

In a recent essay, I explained how over time the US abused its responsibility to control the supply of dollars, the world’s premier reserve currency for settling international trade accounts among nations. This abrogation of its duties is leading to the likely adoption of a new reserve currency, commodity based and controlled not by one nation but by members, all watchful that the currency is not inflated. Let us continue the analogy of an individual receiving a...

Switzerland’s consumer price index (CPI) remained stable in October 2022 compared with the previous month, reported Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) this week. Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.comThis left year-on-year inflation at the end of October 2022 at 3%, the same level that it was at the end of September 2022. The stability of the index compared with the previous month is due to opposing trends that counterbalanced each other overall....

In another sign of weakness for the job market, the total number of employed persons in the United States fell, month over month, in October. That’s the third time in the last seven months this total has fallen, dropping to approximately 158 million. According to new employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, the current population survey shows 328,000 fewer people were employed in October than in September, seasonally adjusted. . This...

Among the components of the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset are a drastically reduced population and the replacement of human labor with robots and artificial intelligence (AI). The question immediately comes to mind: can robots and AI really make all the stuff for the elites after they have gotten rid of the people? Because a plan has been formulated and described does not mean that it is possible to realize. The plan may contradict laws of logic or reality, or...

Switzerland has made progress in reforming tax rates for multinational companies but still has work to do when it comes to turning a blind eye to tax avoidance. In an interview in the French-language paper Le Temps, Paul Tang, who led a delegation of European parliamentarians visiting Bern last week, said that Switzerland had made more progress than the European Union when it came to bringing tax rates for multinational companies in line with other countries....

The apparent hawkishness of Fed Chair Powell's comments at the press conference following the FOMC's fourth consecutive rate hike extended the dollar's recovery, which had begun in late October. However, the inability of the greenback to rally after the stronger-than-expected jobs data suggests the bounce has ended. Still, participants may be cautious ahead of the October CPI report due November 10. Although many may think Powell indicated that the Fed was finished...

There are three potential inflection points. The first is a pause from the Fed; if nothing else, Powell signaled it was too early to think about it. The second is for the Bank of Japan to change monetary policy. Governor Kuroda has signaled that it is not time. Conventional wisdom is there will not be a change until Kuroda's term ends next April. However, we note that the surveys suggest economists and BOJ inflation forecasts for next year have converged. The third...