Overview: The US dollar is enjoying a mostly firmer bias ahead of today's CPI report. Sterling is the strongest among the G10 currencies after a more resilient than expected labor market report. The dollar extended its gains against the Japanese yen to a new high since last November, but the market seems cautious as it approaches JPY150, where large options expire today. On the other hand, emerging market currencies are mostly faring better. The Mexican peso and...
Read More »The Myth of the Unchanging Value of Gold
According to mainstream economics textbooks, one of the primary functions of money is to measure the value of goods and services exchanged on the market. A typical statement of this view is given by Frederic Mishkin in his textbook on money and banking. “[M]oney ... is used to measure value in the economy,” he claims. “We measure the value of goods and services in terms of money, just as we measure weight in terms of pounds and distance in terms of miles.” When money...
Read More »Javier Milei Understands the Road to Serfdom
Each week we encounter mouthwatering policies implemented by the newly elected libertarian president of Argentina Javier Milei. He has the libertarian community in awe. His arrival to politics with an openly antisystem discourse shook not only the local scene in Argentina but also the rest of the world. But how? The respective libertarian parties in each country barely get enough votes to even appear on the main grid on election night! There are numerous reasons as...
Read More »Abstimmungsempfehlungen Stadt Zürich
Mythen-Park Ein grüner Ring um das Seebecken – das liesst sich wie eine wunderbare Idee. Eine wunderbare, aber unpraktikable Idee. Die Initiative will zwischen dem Strandbad Mythenquai und dem General-Guisan-Quai einen zusammenhängenden Park erstellen. Dafür soll der Mythenquai zwischen der Kreuzung Alfred-Escher-Strasse und General-Guisan-Quai für den motorisierten Verkehr aufgehoben werden. Eine wichtige Einfallsachse in die Stadt und eine kantonal klassierte Hauptverkehrsstrasse...
Read More »Abstimmungsempfehlungen Kanton Zürich
Anforderungen an Bundesrichter? JA zu Änderung der Kantonsverfassung, Voraussetzungen für die Wahl an die obersten kantonalen Gerichte Die Richter der obersten Gerichte im Kanton Zürich werden vom Kantonsrat gewählt. Dieser hat nun seine ohnehin gängige Praxis bezüglich der Voraussetzungen für die Wahl der Richter in einem Gesetz geregelt. Daher muss auch die Verfassungsgrundlage angepasst werden. Die Vorlage sieht im Wesentlichen eine Altersbeschränkung auf 68 Jahre sowie die...
Read More »Abstimmungsempfehlungen Schweiz
NEIN zur 13. AHV-Rente Entschiedenes Nein zu den exorbitanten 5 Milliarden Franken Mehrkosten – jedes Jahr! Nein zur 13. AHV-Rente! Diese Reform ist eine finanzielle Zumutung, die uns so viel kostet wie die gesamte Armee, ohne dabei irgendeine Form von Sicherheit oder Problemlösung zu bieten. Wir beobachten, wie die heutigen Rentnergenerationen in einem Wohlstand leben, den die jüngeren Generationen kaum noch zu Gesicht bekommen werden. Junge Familien werden bereits jetzt durch...
Read More »Bank Crises and the Interventionist Spiral
Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank fell like dominos in March–April 2023. The United States Treasury, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) intervened in an unprecedented way to stall the domino effect. They waived the FDIC’s $250,000 cap on insured deposits at the failed banks, and the Fed instituted the Bank Term Funding Program to bail out any and all banks that run into trouble meeting...
Read More »The Greenback is in Narrow Ranges to Start the Week
Overview: The foreign exchange market is quiet. The Lunar New Year holiday shut most Asian markets. That, coupled with the light news in Europe, have served to keep the dollar in narrow ranges against the G10 currencies. The Swedish krona, Norwegian krone, and Japanese yen are posting minor gains against the greenback. The New Zealand dollar, which was strongest major currency last week (1.4%) is off by almost 0.5% today, making it the weakest today. RBNZ Governor...
Read More »Biden’s Middle East Policy Puts Americans at Risk
The Biden administration’s Middle East policies are going to produce the same kind of blowback that led to the 9/11 attacks. The more reckless Biden becomes, the more American lives are placed at risk. Original Article: Biden's Middle East Policy Puts Americans at Risk [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter
Read More »Are Free Markets More Dangerous than Regulated Markets?
Is the regulatory choice a tradeoff between safety or “breaking a few eggs” via free markets? The logic of allowing for free and unhampered markets is compelling. Original Article: Are Free Markets More Dangerous than Regulated Markets? [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter
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