Tag Archives: Featured

If we set out to design a highly addictive platform that optimized the most toxic, destructive aspects of human nature, we’d eventually come up with social media. Social problems arise when initially harmless addictions explode in popularity, and economic problems arise when the long-term costs of the addictions start adding up. Political problems arise when the addictions are so immensely profitable that the companies skimming the profits can buy political influence...

Existing Swiss Air Force F-18 – © Andrew David Periam | Dreamstime.com Before Christmas, Switzerland’s parliament approved the purchase of a new fleet of fighter jets costing CHF 6 billion, according to RTS. The plan, which aims to defend Swiss airspace beyond 2030, has now been approved by both Switzerland’s upper and lower houses. Any contract to supply the aircraft will require a foreign supplier to invest in related industries in Switzerland. Some have described...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.05% to 1.0893 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 27(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge Overview: Equities are finishing the holiday-shortened week on a firm note, encouraged by strong holiday internet sales in the US. Most markets in the Asia Pacific region advanced except China and Thailand, while Japanese markets were mixed after weak industrial output and retail sales. The MSCI Asia...

USD/CHF fails to hold on to previous gains as broad weakness of the USD joins risk reshuffle. US-China trade optimism confronts Brexit risk while Japan’s data-dump joins China’s Industrial Production data. Swiss ZEW Survey, trade/political updates will be in the spotlight. With the broad US Dollar (USD) weakness joining hands with mixed fundamental catalysts, USD/CHF drops to 0.9810 amid the initial Friday trading. The greenback seems to have lost its allure amid the...

Neuchâtel – © Adwo | Dreamstime.com In 2018, the number of people receiving social welfare in Switzerland fell from 278,300, or 3.3% of the population, to 272,700, 3.2% of the population. The last time the number fell was in 2008 when it dropped from 3.1% (233,500) to 2.9% (222,600) of the population. The percentage of people on welfare varies significantly by type of household, nationality and canton. Rates are far higher for single parent households (21%) than...

Chinese President Xi Jinping If it was The Wall Street Journal or other US financial media outlets, for the last several weeks, pumping headlines via “people familiar with the discussions,” about how President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could have a phase one trade deal signing event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January. It turns out, after all the optimism of a potential signing event at Davos between Trump and Xi — it was just...

When I was asked to write an article about the impact of negative interest rates and negative yielding bonds, I thought it was a chance to look at the topic from a broader perspective. There have been lots of articles speculating about the possible implications and focusing on their impact in the short run, but it’s not very often that an analysis looks a bit further into the future, trying to connect money and its effect on society itself. Qui Bono? Let us begin...

It’s almost Christmas time again, and that means its time for White House politicians and staff to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on Christmas decorations and events for the White House. Parties and pricey decor have, unfortunately, become “tradition” at the White House where the holiday season has become an excuse for the staffs of the White House and the First Lady’s staff to put on a wide variety of “social” events which are really just public relations...

The logo of FINMA, the Swiss financial watchdog (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA says it will have an independent auditor investigate Swiss bank Credit Suisse “in the context of observation activities”. “The observation activities carried out by Credit Suisse raise various compliance issues,” FINMA said in a statement on Friday eveningexternal link. “FINMA’s ongoing investigations of this matter will now be stepped up...

Geopolitics has moved from a slow-moving, relatively predictable chess match to rapidly evolving 3-D chess in which the rules keep changing in unpredictable ways. A declining standard of living in the developed world, declining growth for the developed world and geopolitical jockeying for control of resources make for a highly combustible mix awaiting a spark: welcome to the era of intensifying chaos and the rapid advance of new weapons of conflict as ruling elites...