Tag Archives: Featured

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has hit French-speaking Switzerland harder than the rest of Switzerland both before and since summer. 44% of Swiss Covid-19 deaths have occurred in the cantons of Valais, Vaud, Geneva, Fribourg and Neuchâtel, despite making up only 25% of the country’s population. Daily New Deaths in Switzerland, November 27 Source: worldometers.info - Click to enlarge At a recent press conference, Martin Ackermann, head of the Covid-19 scientific Task Force,...

Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis, left, and Afghan finance minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal. Keystone / Valentin Flauraud At an international conference in Geneva to source funding for Afghanistan, Switzerland has renewed its annual CHF26 million ($28.48 million) pledge for another four years. The Swiss contribution, which will amount to CHF104 million up to 2024, is earmarked for projects to promote the rule of law, agriculture, and education, the foreign...

26.11.2020 – From 2021, the price indices published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) will be armed with an updated methodology that reflects market changes as closely as possible. Furthermore, a new price index will be added to the existing set, measuring residential property price change, which will be published on a quarterly basis. These economic indicators are very important, both for economic and monetary policy and for the indexation of monetary values...

Our overweening faith and confidence in our wealth and power make this a dimly lit Thanksgiving. A public expression of gratitude by victorious sports stars, lottery winners, etc. is now the convention in America: coaches, teammates, family and mentors (or agents) are recognized as an expression of the winners’ humility and gratitude for everyone that contributed to the success. As sincere as each individual’s gratitude may be, there’s something forced and phony...

As in so much else, the French revolutionary regime (1789–94) was the precursor of the centralized, totalitarian, managerial, pseudo-democratic despotisms that now reign over the West. It is also reminder that mass democracy and inflation go together, as surely as thunder and lightning. Let us revisit the Revolution, from a free-market, hard-money perspective. After two centuries, there remains no better analysis of the first two years of the French Revolution than...

I just finished reading Free by 40 in Switzerland, a book about financial independence, in Switzerland, by fellow blogger Mr. Mustachian Post, alias Marc Pittet. Mr. MP was kind enough to send me a version that I could review before the release date. So I can have this review ready now that the book is available! Free by 40 in Switzerland will go over how to retire by the age of 40 in Switzerland. It covers how to reduce your expenses, increase your income, and...

Blockchain is set to challenge the dominance of national stock exchanges. Keystone / Walter Bieri Digital assets bank Sygnum says it will open up new sources of funding for small companies by creating and trading shares on the blockchain. Its new trading facility will also target venture capital, real estate and the arts and collectibles market. The goal is to translate traditional assets into blockchain-compatible digital ‘tokens’ that can speed up trading and make...

26.11.2020 – In the 3rd quarter 2020, total employment (number of jobs) fell by 0.4% in comparison with the same quarter a year earlier (+0.5% with previous quarter). In full-time equivalents, employment in the same period declined by 0.1%. The Swiss economy counted 11 900 fewer vacancies than in the corresponding quarter of the previous year (–15.1%) with the employment outlook indicator also indicating a downward trend (-2.3%). These are some of the latest findings...

Interior Minister Alain Berset at the press conference on Wednesday Keystone In summer 2019 the social partners agreed on a reform of the Swiss occupational pension scheme. The government on Wednesday adopted this compromise unchanged; the ball is now in parliament’s court. Occupational pensions have been under pressure for a while as a result of rising life expectancy and low interest rates. Following the rejection by voters of the pension reform in September 2017,...

Clariant has its headquarters in the Swiss city of Basel but operates in more than 50 countries. Keystone/Gaetan Bally Swiss speciality chemicals firm Clariant has announced further job cuts amid a series of divestments. The programme foresees a reduction of approximately 1,000 positions in service and regional structures, it said on Wednesday. About one-third of the reductions will be included in the divestment transfers, adding that it would set aside provisions of...