On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Doug French to discuss the health of US banks, the specific dangers of commercial real estate debt, and the risks of industry consolidation. Discussed on the Show “The Fed Claims the Banking System is “Sound and Resilient.” The Banks’ Balance Sheets Say Otherwise” by Douglas French: Mises.org/RR_173_A “The Fed Prepares for a Bank Crisis While Telling Americans the Economy is Strong” by...
Read More »GDP is a Poor Measure of Economic Health
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the most common measure of national wealth and economic growth. Yet the layman—and even many businessmen and economists—is taken aback when mainstream commentators and professionals get very excited about changes to GDP, which seem to have little to no impact on real economic conditions. While GDP can sometimes reflect real economic conditions, this is often when conditions are very favorable or unfavorable and where other techniques...
Read More »A perfect storm in the making
The New Year is usually associated with a new beginning, a fresh start, or a “clean slate”. Unfortunately, for millions of Americans, these are wishes that are bound to remain unfulfilled – for them, the New Year has nothing “new” to offer at all: it will only perpetuate all the same burdens, obligations and worries of the past year and of the ones that came before. One physical, practical manifestation of this (though it is certainly not a unique, or even a rare,...
Read More »Divergence Highlighted by Back-to-Back Quarterly Contractions in Japan and the UK but Little FX Reaction
Overview: There has been a string of disappointing economic news today. Japan’s economy surprisingly contracted in Q4 23 and the Q3 contraction was a little deeper than initially estimates. Australia’s jobs growth was weaker than expected and unemployment rose to 4.1%, matching the highest since November 2021. The UK’s economy contracted more than expected in Q4 23, its second consecutive quarter without growth. That seems like poor news ahead of today’s two...
Read More »8.6% of employees work in shifts with rotating working hours
15.2.2024 - In Switzerland, a total of 15.9% of employees worked shifts in 2022, just over half of them with rotating working hours (8.6% of employees). The distribution of shift work varies widely among the different economic activities. The economic activities with the highest percentages of shift work, i.e. in which more than 20% of employees undertake shift...
Read More »UBS Issues Hong Kong’s First Investment-Grade Tokenised Warrant on Ethereum
UBS has launched Hong Kong’s first investment-grade tokenised warrant, leveraging the Ethereum public blockchain. This product is part of the bank’s UBS Tokenise initiative, aimed at advancing its in-house tokenisation services. The product is a call warrant with Xiaomi Corporation as the underlying stock. The tokenised warrant is also reportedly the first natively issued warrant on a public blockchain that was sold to OSL Digital Securities Limited, a licensed...
Read More »Digital Service Dumpster Fires and Shadow Work
One wonders what we’re paying for via taxes, products and services, when we end up having to do so much of the work ourselves for nothing. Let’s look at a day-to-day reality that is so ubiquitous it doesn’t attract the attention it deserves: Digital services–the foundation of the digital economy–are dumpster fires we’re supposed to put out ourselves. The services are broken, dysfunctional rubbish, and yet somehow the agencies or corporations that are responsible...
Read More »Climate Deniers Deny Socialism. That’s Why the Regime Hates Them.
So-called climate change is really an excuse for government to do what it does worst: intervene in our economic affairs. While government efforts will not cool the planet, they will make life more difficult for the planet’s inhabitants. Original Article: Climate Deniers Deny Socialism. That's Why the Regime Hates Them. [embedded content]...
Read More »A Short History of the Right to Self-Determination
Modern international law tends to grant a right to “remedial self-determination” only in extreme cases. Unfortunately, this position accepts that states ought to be free to violate human rights so long as the abuses fall short of war crimes and genocide. Original Article: A Short History of the Right to Self-Determination [embedded content]...
Read More »Washington’s Planned Theft of Credit Card Benefits
Congressional Democrats are trying to intervene in a complex and varied market they know little about but that consumers navigate without need of help. This will not end well. Original Article: Washington’s Planned Theft of Credit Card Benefits [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter
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