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Alas, fakery isn’t actually a solution to fiscal/financial crisis.. This chart of “debt securities and loans”–i.e. total debt in the U.S. economy–is also a chart of the creation and distribution of new money, as the issuance of new debt is the mechanism in our financial system for creating (or “emitting” in economic jargon) new currency: when a bank issues a new home mortgage, for example, the loan amount is new...

Euro area employment grew for the 18th consecutive quarter in Q4 2017 (+0.3% q-o-q), and is now 1.5% above its pre-crisis (2008) level. By contrast, hours worked per person employed decreased during the same period, remaining 4% below their pre-crisis level. The two data series have followed divergent trends since the start of the economic recovery. Between Q1 2008 and Q2 2013, the total amount of labour input used by...

– Gold Cup at Cheltenham – ‘The Olympics’ of the European horse racing calendar   – Gold Cup trophy contains 10 troy ounces of gold – worth £9,000 – £620 million bets on horses, 230,000 pints of Guinness will be drunk, 9.2 tonnes of potato eaten  – Since the 5th century BC, gold has been the ultimate prize to award champions and gold has been constantly and universally awarded as top prize  – Gold, like the summit of...

Among the world’s most expensive places to fill a shopping cart: Zurich and Geneva Only Singapore is more expensive than Zurich, finds an economic survey that compared the prices of more than 150 grocery items in 133 cities around the world. In fact Zurich tied with Paris for second place, followed by Hong Kong, Oslo, and Geneva – which tied with Seoul for sixth place. The ranking comes from the 2018 Worldwide Cost of...

Despite the name, SWISS is owned by German group Lufthansa. Swiss International Air Lines saw an increase in profitability of almost one-third in 2017, the company has reported. The performance is largely due to more efficient and capacious planes. While total income increased by a more modest 3.2% to CHF4.95 billion ($5.24 billion), pre-tax profits jumped by 31% to CHF561 million. This made the year 2017 one of the...

If indeed this inflation hysteria has passed, its peak was surely late January. Even the stock market liquidations that showed up at that time were classified under that narrative. The economy was so good, it was bad; the Fed would be forced by rapid economic acceleration to speed themselves up before that acceleration got out of hand in uncontrolled consumer price gains. On February 1, the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow...

Swiss National Bank leaves expansionary monetary policy unchanged The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is maintaining its expansionary monetary policy, with the aim of stabilising price developments and supporting economic activity. Interest on sight deposits at the SNB is to remain at –0.75% and the target range for the three-month Libor is unchanged at between –1.25% and –0.25%. The SNB will remain active in the foreign...

…but it could start tightening at the end of this year. At its latest quarterly monetary policy assessment unveiled today, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) maintained its accommodative monetary policy. The target range for the 3-month Libor was kept between -1.25% and -0.25%, the interest rate on sight deposits with the SNB was maintained at a record low of -0.75%, and the central bank reiterated its willingness to...

Swiss pensioners who wish to rent or buy property in Portugal are exempt from income tax for a decade (Keystone) - Click to enlarge A proposal to tax at source the old-age pensions of Swiss retirees living abroad has been made in parliament. The aim is to prevent differential treatment of pensioners based on where they live. On Wednesday, Christian Democrat senator Peter Hegglin tabled an...

Hungary’s Gold Repatriation Adds To Growing Protest Against US Dollar Hegemony – Hungarian National Bank (MNB) to repatriate 100,000 ounces gold from Bank of England– Follows trend of Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Belgium each looking to bring gold back to home soil– Hungary one of the smallest gold owners amongst central banks, with just 5 tonnes– Central bank gold purchases continue to be major drivers of gold...