In 2022, the Portuguese fintech ecosystem entered a new stage of development, marked by greater maturity of the sector, continued innovation through partnerships and a dynamic venture capital (VC) market, a new report by industry trade group Portugal Fintech, in collaboration with KPMG, Visa and law firm Morais Leitao, claims. The Portugal Fintech Report 2022, released in October, shows a resilient fintech industry that has continued to grow, innovate and attract...
Read More »There’s No Bottom Until Frenzied Speculation Turns to Dust
Only when speculative sizzle attracts no buyers / marks will the bottom be in. There hasn’t been a truly organic bottom in stocks in decades. Fifteen years of relentless central bank manipulation since the 2008-09 Global Financial Meltdown has persuaded punters that central banks will always save us should the market turn down because relentless central bank suppression of interest rates and expansion of liquidity (a.k.a. free money for financiers) are now necessary...
Read More »Two out of three Swiss resorts raise ski-pass prices
Skiers in Zermatt will be forking out 5% more for day passes compared to last winter. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott Some ski lift companies are charging up to 15% more for passes this winter as high energy prices bite, a survey by CH Media shows. Out of 16 destinations surveyed, roughly two out of three will be charging more for ski passes than last winter, the newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende reported. The resorts that have hiked their prices the most are in...
Read More »Relying on Experts: A Proven Path to Failure
The warning lights on the dashboard of your car suddenly light up. You naturally take it to a mechanic to diagnose and repair. Cars are complex. You don’t have the time or accumulated expertise to figure out what is happening or to fix it. We rely on experts daily. In a complex world filled with busy people, it is impossible for any one person to know and do everything. So, we outsource. By doing so, we of course rely on others’ expertise, but we also subject...
Read More »How Easy Money Fueled the FTX Crypto Collapse
The collapse of the crypto exchange FTX may prove to be a canary in the coal mine of the easy-money fueled crypto bubbles. FTX’s collapse has exposed just how little due diligence is actually taking place among investors who are apparently willing to put large amounts of cash in whatever place looks like the hottest new thing and promises—without convincing evidence—big-time returns. Indeed, FTX seems to be a textbook example of how many investors are easily...
Read More »Fallacious Rightwing Justifications for Immigration Socialism
REMINDER: This is our end-of-year fundraising drive. Your support today will help us advance liberty in the year head. We could never do our work without those of you who help us out in a bigger way. If you are already an FFF donor, we hope you will renew your support with a generous end-of-year donation. If you have never donated to FFF, we hope you’ll change that situation by making a generous donation to FFF. Here is my end-of-year message seeking your...
Read More »FTX: The Dominoes of Financial Fraud Have Yet to Fall
Once assets are revealed as worth far less than claimed, insolvency is the inevitable result. If you haven’t plowed through dozens of post-collapse commentaries on FTX, I’m saving you the trouble: here’s a distillation of what matters going forward. If you’re seeking a forensic accounting of FTX, others have done this work already. If you’re seeking an ideological diatribe, you won’t find that here, either. What you will find is insight into the real innovation of...
Read More »Der Etatismus beruht in Wirklichkeit auf einem Non sequitur
Dieser Artikel ist bereits am 23. März 2022 bei Mises.org unter dem Titel erschienen «The Statist ‘Sollution’ Really Is a Non Sequitur». Übersetzt von Johannes Beifuss. Ein Non sequitur ist ein grundlegender, aber häufiger logischer Fehlschluss, der auftritt, wenn eine vermeintliche Schlussfolgerung nicht zwingend aus der vorherigen Argumentation folgt. Im Lateinischen bedeutet der Ausdruck «non sequitur» wörtlich «es folgt nicht». Ein Non sequitur ist einfach eine...
Read More »Macro and Prices: Data and Psychology in the Week Ahead
The week ahead has a relatively light economic schedule, punctuated by the US Thanksgiving Day holiday on November 24. Nevertheless, the data highlights include the preliminary November PMIs, Tokyo's November CPI, and the FOMC minutes from this month's meeting. The data is not the driver now; psychology is. The precise print, for example, of the eurozone and the UK's preliminary PMI will likely be of little consequence. The composite has fallen for six consecutive...
Read More »The Housing Boom Is Already Over. Get Ready for Even Higher Prices.
As mortgage rates have risen this year, the demand for home purchases has fallen. That has spelled trouble for the home construction business. Homebuilder confidence dropped for the 10th straight month in October. The decline in builder sentiment reflects what economist Ian Shepherdson describes as “housing … in free fall. So far, most of the hit is in sales volumes, but prices are now falling too, and they have a long way to go.” The University of Michigan’s index...
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