Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.18% to 1.096 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, June 28(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The global capital markets are off to a quiet start of what promises to be a busy week. Quarter and month-end adjustments, Japan’s Tankan survey, the eurozone’s preliminary June CPI, the US employment report, and an OPEC+ meeting are featured. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little...
Read More »UBS Boss says Switzerland is Falling Behind on Structural Change
Cleaning up: Ralph Hamers reckons people trust bankers again © Keystone / Christian Beutler Swiss banks have some catching up to do when it comes to structural change and digitalisation, says Ralph Hamers, CEO of Swiss bank UBS. In his opinion structural change has taken place much faster in other countries and industries than in Switzerland. For example, the dynamics in Asia and Scandinavia are significantly greater, Hamers told newspaper BlickExternal link in an...
Read More »Airbus Launches Counter-Offensive on Fighter Jet Contract
There are four firms in the running for the CHF6 billion fighter jet contract. Keystone / Mindaugas Kulbis Ahead of the Swiss government’s decision on a major fighter jet contract, Airbus has made an appeal to the Swiss government to choose a European firm after leaked information from the government revealed US firm Lockheed Martin was out ahead of competitors. “It is important for us that all seven government ministers assess the overall package,” Bernhard Brenner,...
Read More »The Fed: Why Federal Spending Soared in 2020 but State and Local Spending Flatlined
In the wake of the Covid Recession and the drive to pour ever larger amounts of “stimulus” into the US economy, the Federal Government in 2020 spent more than double—as a percentage of all government spending—of what all state and local governments spent in 2020, combined. By the end of 2020, the US’s federal government was spending 68 percent of all government spending in America, while state and local governments spent only 31 percent of all government spending....
Read More »America’s Social Order is Unraveling
The unraveling of America’s social order is accelerating, and denial will not save us from the consequences of the plundering of the social contract. What kind of nation boasts a record-high stock market and an unraveling social order? Answer: a failed nation, a nation that has substituted artifice for realism for far too long, a nation that now depends on illusory phantoms of capital, prosperity and democracy to prop up a crumbling facade of “wealth” that the...
Read More »#MacroView: Capitalism Does Not Equal Corporatism – Pt. 1
“Capitalism” is not the same as “Corporatism.” Yet, whenever you mention capitalism, there is palpable anger arising from a fundamental widespread misbelief. “‘Evil’ corporations are greedy and take advantage of the system for their benefit.” I have two words for you – “No S***.” Such does not mean capitalism has become “broken.” On the contrary, capitalism created the opportunity for corporations to exist. Things went wrong when corporations took advantage of the...
Read More »Switzerland’s Battle of the Bees
The risk to bees through pesticides and the ensuing effects on the world’s food crops have been the source of much debate. But do Swiss measures to support the domestic honeybee disadvantage the equally important wild bee? It is not easy to identify the 615 different species of wild bees found in Switzerland. Max Huber After some years in the regional print and broadcast media in French Switzerland, in 2000 I joined Radio Swiss International, which then became...
Read More »‘Switzerland can’t have its cake and eat it,’ says EU ambassador
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis at the opening of the Swiss embassy in Minsk, Belarus, in February 2020. Keystone / Tatyana Zenkovich After rejecting the framework agreement with the European Union last month, Switzerland must now choose the model for interacting with the bloc’s internal market, says the EU ambassador to Switzerland. In an interviewExternal link with Le Temps newspaper on Friday, Petros Mavromichalis warned that the status quo was not an option...
Read More »The Feds Collect Most of the Taxes in America—So They Have Most of the Power
[unable to retrieve full-text content]In 2021, it's clear Americans now have thrown off any notions of subsidiarity and instead embraced the idea that the federal government should be called upon to fund pretty much anything and everything. From "stimulus checks" to "paycheck protection," it's assumed an entire national workforce can be propped up by federal spending.
Read More »Switzerland to open mass events and nightclubs to those with Covid certificates
[unable to retrieve full-text content]On 23 June 2021, Switzerland’s government announced that it was loosening a wide range of Covid-19 restrictions from Saturday. From Saturday, 26 June 2021 rules on nightclubs, large events, remote working, education and restaurants will be loosened. In addition, it will become easier for travelers to enter Switzerland.
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