Tag Archives: newsletter

– Global debt bubble hits new all time high – over $237 trillion– Global debt increased 10% or $21 tn in 2017 to nearly a quarter quadrillion USD – Increase in debt equivalent to United States’ ballooning national debt – Global debt up $50 trillion in decade & over 327% of global GDP – $750 trillion of bank derivatives means global debt over $1 quadrillion – Gold will be ‘store of value’ in coming economic...

Anyone accepting “facts” or narratives from any interested party is being played. About the only “fact” the public knows with any verifiable certainty about Syria is that much of that nation is in ruins. Virtually everything else presented as “fact” is propaganda intended to serve one of the competing narratives or discredit one or more competing narratives. Consider a partial list of “interested parties” spinning their...

A “Typical” Correction? A Narrative Fail May Be in Store Obviously, assorted crash analogs have by now gone out of the window – we already noted that the market was late if it was to continue to mimic them, as the decline would have had to accelerate in the last week of March to remain in compliance with the “official time table”. Of course crashes are always very low probability events – but there are occasions when...

The Royal Penthouse Suite at Geneva's President Wilson Hotel is reputedly the most expensive holiday room in the world. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Staying in a hotel in Geneva costs more than anywhere else in Europe, according to an international survey. The €242.90 (CHF288 or $300) average charge per night puts Geneva ahead of Paris (€232.30), while Zurich is listed as the third most expensive...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.29% to 1.1914 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 17(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates After the retreating in the North American session yesterday, despite a rebound in retail sales after three-months of declines, the greenback has been sold further in Europe and Asia. The euro edged through last week’s high near $1.24, and...

Renowned cryptographer Philip Zimmermann, who moved his smartphone encryption firm Silent Circle to Switzerland four years ago, has signed up to the metals-backed crypto Tiberius Coin venture as chief science and security officer. Zimmermann, who was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame by the Internet Society in 2012, came to Switzerland to further develop his anti-snooping Blackphone away from invasive...

The monetary distortions, imbalances and perverse incentives are finally bearing fruit: trade wars. What ignites trade wars? The oft-cited sources include unfair trade practices and big trade deficits. But since these have been in place for decades, they don’t explain why trade wars are igniting now. To truly understand why trade wars are igniting and spreading, we need to start with financial repression, a catch-all...

Good Intentions One of the unspoken delights in life is the rich satisfaction that comes with bearing witness to the spectacular failure of an offensive and unjust system. This week served up a lavish plate of delicious appetizers with both a style and refinement that’s ordinarily reserved for a competitive speed eating contest. What a remarkable time to be alive. It seemed a good idea at first… - Click to enlarge...

In some parts of Switzerland welfare payments are effectively loans that must be repaid when the recipient’s financial situation improves. © PeJo29 | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge According to the Aargauer Zeitung, a welfare recipient in the commune of Klingnau in the canton of Aargau received a bill of 173,000 francs after he came into some money. A windfall of 173,000 francs is rare, according to Rolf Walker,...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.06% to 1.187 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 16(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The Syrian strike over the weekend, and the official indication that “mission accomplished” and that was a limited one-off strike has spurred little market reaction. There is one more loose end, as it were, and that is that the US has...