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Part II of II Unsound money, unsound society  Of course, one of the most important and consequential parts of the incredibly complex organism that is the economy is money itself. It is its lifeblood and as the song goes, “it makes the world go round”. Therefore, manipulating the currency itself is one the most dangerous and hubristic things a central planner can do, which probably explains why it’s their favorite pastime. Ever since the gold standard was officially...

The EU Commissioner for competition policy, Margrethe Vestager. Keystone / Olivier Hoslet The European Commission has ended an investigation of five banks, including UBS and Credit Suisse, who colluded in a foreign exchange spot trading cartel. The total fines announced on Thursday came to €344 million (CHF359 million), with British bank HSBC taking the biggest hit of €174 million. UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, escaped a potential fine of €94 million since it...

Die letzten zwei Jahre gab es immer wieder Kontroversen, wenn es um Werbung in den sozialen Medien für Cryptocoins ging. Unter anderem Facebook sorgte für ein Verbot von Crypto-Werbung auf seiner Plattform. Doch nun hat man sich offenbar dort umentschieden. Crypto News: Facebook erlaubt wieder Werbung für Cryptocoins Das Unternehmen hinter der Plattform Facebook hat sich erst kürzlich in „Meta“ umbenannt. Unter neuem Namen hat man nun seine vorherige Entscheidung...

But alas, humans do not possess god-like powers, they only possess hubris, and so all bubbles pop: the more extreme the bubble, the more devastating the pop. Long cycles operate at such a glacial pace they’re easily dismissed as either figments of fevered imagination or this time it’s different. But since Nature and human nature remain stubbornly grounded by the same old dynamics, cycles eventually turn and the world changes dramatically. Nobody thinks the...

In Canada, inflation hit 4.7 percent in October, and is expected to go even higher. According to a recent survey, 46 percent of Canadians are struggling to feed their families because of the rising cost of living. Perhaps they are also struggling to understand the logic of the Bank of Canada’s (BOC) mission statement: “We work to preserve the value of money by keeping inflation low and stable.” That’s the BOC’s objective, but it’s impossible to achieve. Preserve...

Mickey Fulp, aka the Mercenary Geologist, interviewed Monetary Metals’ CEO Keith Weiner to discuss the maturity of Monetary Metals’ recent gold bond. Gold bonds are denominated in gold, with principal and interest payable in gold. Mickey and Keith have a wide ranging discussion which covers the history of gold as money in the United States, including the history of gold bonds, which were commonplace until 1933. Listen to their conversation below. [embedded content]...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.09% to 1.0587 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 2(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The downside reversal in US stocks yesterday seemed to accelerate after the first case of the Omicron variant was found in the US. In itself, it should not be surprising, but perhaps, what was especially disheartening is that the person had been fully vaccinated. The S&P 500...

02.12.2021 – Turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 0.6% in nominal terms in October 2021 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover rose by 0.5% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Real turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 1.2% in October 2021 compared with the previous year. Real growth takes...

Part I of II Almost two decades ago, German economist Horst Siebert coined the term the “Cobra effect” to describe the real-world consequences of “well-intentioned” government interventions that go awry and produce the exact opposite results from what they aim for. The term was inspired by an incident that took place in India during the British rule, when the authorities tried to reduce the number of deadly cobras in Delhi by offering a cash reward to citizens for...

They say a week is a long time in politics – last week we discovered it’s a long time in a pandemic as well. We started the week anxiously watching the rising Covid cases in Europe, and wondering what new restrictions might be heading our way for Christmas. At the same time here in Geneva journalists were preparing for a special session of the World Health Assembly, swiftly followed by a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Both meetings were...