[The Sources of Russian Aggression: Is Russia a Realist Power?, by Sumantra Maitra, Lexington Books, 2024; 205 pages]One of the unfortunate realities of the foreign policy debate in America is that few Americans are paying much attention. This general level of public ignorance makes it much easier for the American foreign policy elites to then feed the American public whatever lies suit the regime’s agenda.This has certainly been the case with the US’s current proxy...
Read More »Swiss rail to run solely on renewable electricity from 2025
SBB trains will only run on electricity from renewable sources from 2025 Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article Toggle language selector...
Read More »The Health Insurance Disaster
The recent murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Health Care, has led many people to claim that private health insurance is an example of what is wrong with the free market, and that we ought in consequence of its manifest failures to institute a government run single-payer system. Some ghoulish leftists went so far as to post messages on Twitter expressing joy that Thompson had been killed. The Daily Mail reports: “The assassination of UnitedHealthcare...
Read More »The Economics of Medical Waiting Rooms
Americans regularly complain about wait times to obtain medical appointments, especially with primary care physicians and certain specialists. Waiting several weeks or a couple of months for an appointment is not uncommon, which can sound to Americans like purported wait times in Canada and other countries with socialized medicine. Economics and Third-Party Intervention Explain Long Waits Economic analysis of medical education explains what is behind the long wait...
Read More »Weak European growth dampens Swiss economic expectations
KOF and federal economists lower expectations for the Swiss economy Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article Toggle language selector...
Read More »The Dollar And Domestic – International Relative Stock Returns
The U.S. dollar index is up over 6% this year, almost all attributable to a post-election surge. As many developed nations show stagnant economic growth or even contraction, the U.S. economy continues to hum. Further bolstering the dollar is the likelihood that the Fed will slow rate cuts or stop them after this Wednesday's FOMC meeting. Consequently, the Fed is considered more hawkish than other large central banks. Wall Street thinks the dollar will peak and...
Read More »Permabull? Hardly.
I never thought someone would label me a "Permabull." This is particularly true of the numerous articles I wrote over the years about the risks of excess valuations, monetary interventions, and artificially suppressed interest rates. However, here we are. "Lance, you are just another permabull talking your book. When this market crashes you will still be telling people to buy all the way down." I get it. We have been bullish over the last couple of years, but...
Read More »Electricity bills slashed to bailout struggling Swiss steelworks
The federal government should help the ailing Swiss steelworks Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article Toggle language selector...
Read More »The Slow Motion Death of Syria
On December 8, 2024, the 24-year reign of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad came to an end after a rebel coalition of Al-Qaeda offshoots, Turkish proxies, and other Islamist militants overwhelmed the capital of Damascus. In effect, a Sunni Islamist saturnalia brought an end to the Middle East’s last secular Arab government. The Assad family, starting with Hafez al-Assad in 1971, has held an iron grip on Syrian politics for over five decades. As committed members of...
Read More »Swiss drugmaker Sandoz settles US anti-trust charges
Sandoz reaches further settlement in the USA Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article Toggle language selector...
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