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Labor’s share of the national income is in freefall as a direct result of the optimization of financialization. The Achilles Heel of our socio-economic system is the secular stagnation of earned income, i.e. wages and salaries. Stagnating wages undermine every aspect of our economy: consumption, credit, taxation and perhaps most importantly, the unspoken social contract that the benefits of productivity and increasing...

Une mine de diamants… - Click to enlarge L’ONG britannique Global Witness vient de publier ce 11 septembre un rapport explosif qui met à nu des opérations de détournement des revenus du secteur minier zimbabwéen par l’élite militaire et politique du pays pour financer les opérations répressives du régime du président Mugabe. Le document, intitulé «An Inside Job»,  est basé sur l’examen de près des activités et bilans...

(Sporadic updates continue as the first of two-week business trip winds down) Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.03% to 1.1481 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, September 15(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates North Korea missile launch failed to have much impact in the capital markets. The missile apparently flew the furthest yet, demonstrating its ability to hit...

President Maduro ” Venezuela will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar,” Oil traders ordered to stop accepting U.S. dollar in exchange for crude oil Order comes following calls from Russia and China to find alternatives to current reserve system U.S. Dollar accounts for two-thirds of global trade Venezuela has over ten-times more oil than United States Super powers are gradually turning to gold to...

Belair is due to stop operations at the end of October (archive picture) (Keystone) - Click to enlarge A potential buyer has been found for Belair, the Swiss subsidiary of insolvent airline Air Berlin, according to Swiss media reports which cite an internal communication to Belair employees. Belair management wrote that there was at least one offer for the airline, according to the az Nordwestschweiz...

The authors’ thesis doesn’t explain the 47-year downtrend of labor’s share of the economy. A provocative essay, Don’t Blame the Robots, makes the bold claim that “Housing Prices and Market Power Explain Wage Stagnation.” (Foreign Affairs) In other words, the stagnation of the bottom 95% of wages isn’t caused by automation or offshoring, but by the crushingly high cost of housing: “Yet recent academic work in...

Over the past month, crude prices have been pinned in a range $50 to the high side and ~$46 at the low. In the futures market, the price of crude is usually set by the money managers (how net long they shift). As discussed before, there have been notable exceptions to this paradigm including some big ones this year. It was earlier in February when money managers piled in to WTI longs, apparently expecting better things...

In the face of much cynicism and pessimism about the outlook for the Trump Administration’s agenda, we have repeatedly pointed out the resilience of the system of checks and balances. Many of the more extreme positions have been tempered, either on their own accord, such as naming China a currency manipulator or pulling out of NAFTA or KORUS, or the judiciary branch, such as on immigration curbs, or the legislative...

Swiss Life denies it has flouted US regulations - Click to enlarge Insurance firm Swiss Life has announced that it has been approached by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding its cross-border business with US clients. After going after Swiss banks with a vengeance for abetting tax evasion, it appears that it is now the turn of the Swiss insurance industry to attract unfavourable attention from the DOJ. Products...

© Ocusfocus | Dreamstime Switzerland’s federal council, the country’s seven-person executive or cabinet, has come up with a plan to cut those exorbitant mobile roaming phone bills that many of us return home to after trips abroad, an experience which hurts even more now roaming charges have been eliminated for EU residents. The roaming proposal is part of a wide-ranging revision to Switzerland’s telecommunications laws,...