Tag Archives: newsletter

Chinese run media, the Global Times, blatantly tweeted an homage to China’s late leader Mao Zedong commemorating his 128th birthday. Fully understanding the storm of controversy this would create, with the Communist government’s full approval, such a provocation has been taken in the West as if just one more chess piece played in its geopolitical game against the United States in particular. No. The Communists really mean it. Mao’s their guy again. No. Let’s recall...

The Swiss watch industry has retained staff in 2021 Keystone / Martin Ruetschi The annual census of the Swiss watch industry labour force found that partial unemployment helped the industry weather the pandemic over the last year. The number of employees in the industry remained stable in 2021 while the share of high skilled staff increased. There are just under 60,000 people working in the watchmaking industry in Switzerland, which is less than a 1% decrease from...

We’re only ever given the two options: the economy is either in recession, or it isn’t. And if “not”, then we’re led to believe it must be in recovery if not outright booming already. These are what Economics says is the business cycle. A full absence of unit roots. No gray areas to explore the sudden arrival of only deeply unsatisfactory “booms.” Every once in a while, however, even the mainstream media meanders closer to the actual economics (small “e”) of the...

The latest two states to legalize recreational cannabis are New York and New Jersey. However, if one believes governors and legislators in those states have finally adopted a more libertarian view of the topic, one will be severely disappointed. Legalization of recreational cannabis in both states is driven by the need for tax revenue—tax revenue to plug the holes in state budgets for social programs, holes in the state budget that were exasperated by the failed...

Die Libertäre Partei sagt ja zur Änderung des Bundesgesetzes über die Stempelabgaben am 13. Februar 2022. In der Abschaffung der Emissionsabgabe sieht die Partei einen ersten Schritt unter vielen, um dem Schweizer Finanzplatz neues Leben einzuhauchen. Nach jahrelanger Kontroverse haben sich Bundesrat und Parlament endlich zur Abschaffung der Emissionsabgabe durchgerungen. Dabei handelt es sich um eine 1%-Steuer auf neuem Kapital von Unternehmen. Während Kapitalerhöhungen bis zu einer...

Stöckli is one of Switzerland’s oldest ski manufacturers. swissinfo.ch / Dominique Soguel-dit-Picard Shortages of raw materials and logistics bottlenecks have made 2021 a tough year for Swiss manufacturers, and contributed to a downgrade in the government’s GDP growth forecast for the economy next year. Swissinfo.ch’s India specialist covers a wide range of issues from bilateral relations to Bollywood. He also knows a thing or two about Swiss watchmaking and is...

As we are all preparing to bid farewell to 2021, there is a general feeling that this year, much like its predecessor, will not be missed. To my mind, however, it is clear that even though the past 12 months didn’t really teach us anything new, they did help cement the lessons of 2020 and spread important ideas to people who might otherwise have never come to question anything about the status quo. To me, this is a crucial step forward and one that is absolutely...

Switzerland’s second largest bank is now bracing for several class-action lawsuits from clients, experts say. Keystone/Urs Flüeler The Credit Suisse bank has fired the managers overseeing a multi-billion-dollar fund strategy linked to the now-defunct Greensill Capital. Switzerland’s second largest bank was forced to freeze and wind down a $10 billion (CHF9.2 billion) fund range amid huge financial losses. The Zurich-based bank dismissed former head of asset...

Go ahead and become dependent on asset bubbles and the free spending of the top 5%, and optimize your economy to serve this “growth,” but be prepared for the consequences when the costs of this optimization and dependency come due. Here’s the problem with concentrating most of the income and wealth in the top 5%: the whole economy now depends on their spending and “the wealth effect” of bubbles driving that spending. As the charts below show, the top tier of...

According to a new report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control, the life expectancy at birth in the United States fell to 77.0 iyears n 2020, falling from 2019’s life expectancy of 78.8 years. The report also noted an increase of mortality with age-adjusted mortality in the US rising from 715.2 per 100,000 in 2019 to 836.4 per 100,000 in 2020. Media reporting on the CDC’s report provide a variety of statistics on one-year percentage changes, no doubt...