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The hidden tax A lot of people might be aware of historical cases of hyperinflation, like that of Hungary and the Weimar Republic, or even contemporary ones, like that of Venezuela. And yet, these are taught or reported like extreme cases, very far removed from the daily experience of most modern Western citizens. They are presented as though this sort of thing “could never happen here” and very often, the mechanisms and the conscious choices that led to these...

Paper mountain: applications for short-time working compensation in canton Vaud, April 2020. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott The Swiss Federal Audit Office says it is worried by a surge in fraud cases linked to the short-time working system, a key pillar of the country’s economic response to Covid-19. The office’s director Michel Huissoud told public radio SRF on Monday he was “shocked by the number of complaints, mistakes, and abuses” recorded to date. As many as...

That the era of stability has ended and a new era of increasingly chaotic volatility has begun is not on anyone’s radar as a possibility. The standard debate about the future of the economy is: which will we get, high inflation or a deflationary collapse of defaults and asset bubbles popping? The debate goes round and round in widening circles of complexity as analysts delve into every nuance of the debate. A recent conversation with my friend A.T. raised a third...

Death threats, insults, posters vandalised or set on fire: the campaign for two initiatives against pesticides to be put to the vote on June 13 is extremely tense. This toxic climate highlights a deep malaise in the Swiss agricultural world. Scenes of vandalism are becoming regular features as two initiatives that seek to ban pesticides come to a vote in June. Union suisse des paysans “My children live in fear because they have suffered attacks and insults on social...

Over the years, I’ve been pretty hard on the European Union. Both as an editor and a writer, I’ve published articles criticizing its central bank and its unelected, bureaucratic central government. Especially objectionable is the EU ruling class’s propensity for cynical politics built around threatening and intimidating voters and national governments who don’t conform to Brussels’ wishes. Recall, for example, how the EU threatened the United Kingdom with retaliatory...

This week, 5,670 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Switzerland, down 28% from the week before (7,843), continuing the downward trend of new numbers of recorded infections. © Fabiobalbi | Dreamstime.com The daily number of cases on a 7-day rolling average has more than halved (-58%) in 4 weeks falling from 1,924 to 810. With around 34% of Switzerland’s population vaccinated with at least one dose by 26 May 2021, vaccination appears to be having a positive impact on...

by Dr. Federica Saini Fasanotti Malta is a compact archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, 80 km from Sicily, 333 km from Libya and 284 km from Tunisia. It had a long list of rulers, including the Phoenicians, the Byzantines, the Arabs and later the French under Napoleon and finally the British. The island gained independence in 1964, and in 2004 it joined the European Union. In recent years, the smallest EU member state, with a population of less than half a...

In Brussels there was shock and anger. In Switzerland, quiet celebration and relief — but, for some, doubts about what exactly comes next. An employee checks an oscillating surgical bone saw blade at the company Gomina in Niederwald, canton Valais, Switzerland, in 2018. The Swiss medical devices sector, which exports almost half of all devices to the EU, is expected to be affected by Switzerland’s decision to pull out of an institutional framework agreement with the...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.15% to 1.0948 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, May 28(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The recovery of the US 10-year yield, so it is flat on the week near 1.61% coupled with month-end demand, is helping the US dollar firm. While the yen is bearing the burden on the week, with a 0.8% loss, the Antipodeans are leading the downside on the day. Although the New Zealand...

On 27 May 2021, the UK was added Switzerland’s list of risk countries. This means that anyone arriving in Switzerland from the UK from 6pm on Thursday must quarantine upon arrival, with a few exceptions. © Tommy Beattie | Dreamstime.com The UK was added to the Federal Office of Public Health’s (FOPH) list of countries with a worrying variant, alongside Brazil, Canada, India, Nepal and South Africa. A number of other countries and regions are listed because of...