Tag Archives: Featured

Since the beginning of 401(k) plans in 1978, people have considered it to be the quintessential retirement plan—you get to save money before taxes and in most cases, the company puts money into your account, too. What could be better than that? But now, 44 years later, it’s time to take a broader look at 401(k)s that considers taxes on 401(k) distributions. 401(k)s certainly have a place in your investment plan. Most employers offer some kind of match up to a...

By now, most everyone knows about President Biden’s famous “fist bump” with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi dictator who has been accused of orchestrating the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi when he visited a Saudi consulate in Turkey. The fist bump took place during Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia to meet with bin Salman. Biden supporters claim that meeting dictators is sometimes a necessary part of being president. Since Saudi...

In the early morning of July 6th, an explosion damaged a monument in Georgia known as the Georgia Guidestones. Because of the damage, the rest of the monument was demolished for safety reasons. The stones were erected by anonymous donors in 1980 and list ten principles for humanity. At the time of writing, it seems that the explosion was the result of purposeful sabotage. Writing at Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok compares the willful destruction of the monument...

The dollar rose this week, from 17.87mg gold to 18.24mg (that’s “gold fell from $1,740 to $1,705” in DollarSpeak), a gain of 2.1%. In silver terms, it rose from 1.61g to 1.67g (in DollarSpeak, “silver dropped from $19.24 to $18.64), or 3.7%. As always, we want to look past the market price action. Two explanations are hot today. Let’s look at them first, before moving on to our unique analysis of the basis. JP Morgan and Motte and Bailey JP Morgan’s manipulation of...

Overview: The dollar’s downside correction continues today, helped by hawkish signals from the Reserve Bank of Australia and unnamed sources who have played up the chances of a 50 bp hike by the European Central Bank on Thursday. Asia Pacific equities were mixed, and mostly lower after the losses in the US yesterday. The prospect of a more aggressive ECB is weighing on European equities. The Stoxx 600 is slightly lower after rallying 2.7% in the past two sessions....

This article is the second in a two-part series. Check out part 1 here. Even though the downhill trajectory we’ve seen over the last decades in terms of property rights is bad enough, nothing could have ever prepared us for what the covid-19 crisis would bring. Even those of us who have read enough history to know that there’s really no line that the state will not cross in its fervent pursuit of absolute power were sincerely surprised. How could the ruling elite...

Die Signale sind in den letzten Tagen wieder auf Grün gesprungen. Im gesamten Markt gibt es ein klares Kursplus. Bitcoin legte im Wochenvergleich 10 Prozent zu. Doch ist dies der Anfang eines Bullenruns oder könnte es in naher Zukunft wieder runtergehen? Bitcoin News: Markt erholt sich, doch haben wir die Talsohle wirklich durchschritten?Seit Donnerstag letzter Woche ging es für den BTC stetig nach oben. Gestern erreichte der Kurs dann sogar ein Monatshoch von mehr...

We do not like Purchasing Power or Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) as measurement for currencies. For us, the trade balance decides if a currency is overvalued. Only the trade balance can express productivity gains, while the REER assumes constant productivity in comparison to trade partners. Who has read Michael Pettis, knows that a rising trade surplus may also be caused by a higher savings rate while the trade partners decided to spend more. This is partially...

17.07.2022 – Construction expenditure again remained stable in 2021 compared with the previous year. Investments in civil engineering rose by 1.0% and those in building construction fell by 0.4%. As a result, total investment in construction showed a decline of 0.1%. These are the provisional findings from the Construction Statistics from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Percentage change in construction expenditure by type of building and by type of work...

The Ukraine war has heightened volatility and reduced client appetite for risk. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally The ongoing war in Ukraine has been partly blamed for losses at a prominent Swiss asset management company. The entire Swiss industry suffered a dip in fortunes in the first six months of year as extreme market volatility reduced the value of investments and caused clients to play safe with their money. Independent asset manager GAM Group warns that it expects to...