Tag Archives: Featured

The introduction of commodities into the market has interesting implications concerning Carl Menger’s value imputation. The subjectiveness behind this approach illustrates that marginal utility analysis may be used in the explanation of the price phenomena of a commodity, or more specifically, the price phenomena of a new item into the market. In the imaginary construction of Robinson Crusoe’s island, in which there is a community that does trade among a few...

Since our last silver article, the price of silver has dropped. With due respect to Frederic Bastiat, the price is the seen. The basis mostly goes unseen. We will take a look at the market data, revised for a few more days of trading. Warren Buffett, 2008, and the Cobasis But first, let’s look at a chart we have discussed a few times over the years. It shows two ratios: gold basis to silver basis, and gold cobasis to silver cobasis. It shows a measure of gold’s...

01.09.2022 – Turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 4.6% in nominal terms in July 2022 compared with the previous year, with just under half of this upturn due to price increases. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 0.3% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Real turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 2.6% in July...

As the word suggests, cannibalism won’t end well for those consumed by the infinitely insatiable few. Cannibalize is an interesting word. It is a remarkably graphic way to describe the self-inflicted destruction of a system by stripping previously functional subsystems to sustain the illusion of system functionality. Here are some examples. An Air Force which routinely posts photos of its impressive fleet of 100 aircraft has been cannibalizing parts from 80 aircraft...

SDX Web3 Services, the newly launched business unit from SIX Digital Exchange, is now live with its non-custodial Ethereum staking service. This new offering is a straightforward and secure way to launch new validators, generate yield from staking, and manage Ethereum validator nodes through a fully managed, API based infrastructure. The service is tailored to institutional clients who need to scale their Ethereum staking capabilities. SDX Web3 Services said that...

According to many economic commentators, an effective way to generate economic growth is through the lowering of taxes. The lowering of taxes, it is held, will place more money in consumers’ pockets, thereby setting in motion an economic growth. This way of thinking is based on the belief that a given dollar increase in consumer spending will lift the economy’s gross domestic product (GDP) by a multiple of the increase in consumer expenditure. Assume that out of an...

On 31 August 2022, Switzerland’s federal government launched its campaign to cut energy consumption to reduce the risks of an energy shortfall over the coming winter. Photo by Castorly Stock on Pexels.comThe government stressed that there was currently no energy shortfall. However, Simonetta Sommaruga, the minister in charge of energy, said it was important to cut energy consumption to avoid the risk of forced cuts. An energy cut of a few weeks could cost the Swiss...

© Keystone / Gaetan Bally High energy prices have forced a steel mill in Switzerland to prepare for short-time working to avoid layoffs. The Stahl Gerlafingen steel plant in the canton of Solothurn has been granted permission to resort to short-time working from October to December as a preventive measure. The mill consumes as much electricity as 70,000 households and is expecting a bill of CHF45 million for October, writes the NZZ am Sonntag. This is more than the...

One of the arrogances of “Western” nations is that our way of life and our liberties are protected by periodic elections as required by constitutions, written (America) or not (Great Britain), containing bills of rights, etc. The people rule, it is claimed, and we get exactly what we want, even if those in the minority are unhappy with the result. Minorities can always become tomorrow’s majority and institute alternative policies. Therefore, Western nations really...

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Economics by Thomas J. DiLorenzo Regnery Publishing, 2022; xx + 242 pp. Like Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, Tom DiLorenzo is an economist with an extraordinary knowledge of history, and this shows to great advantage in his brilliant new book. In it, he stresses that economists who fail to grasp how the free market works often devise elaborate theories to show “market failures,” but when examined in the light of historical...