Tag Archives: Politics

Interview with Robert Mark: Claudio Grass (CG): In this surreal policy environment, how has the role and the investment process of the value investor evolved, especially over the last decade?  How can one still identify value in a world of subsidized binge borrowing, extreme indebtedness, and stock buybacks?  Robert Mark (RM): The patriarch of value investing, Ben Graham, once said, “In the short run the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing...

Davos has hosted thousands of political, business and civil society leaders for 50 years. © Keystone / Christian Beutler The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) flagship summit may not take place in Davos next year, businesses in the alpine town have been warned. The pandemic had already forced organisers to postpone the event from its usual January slot to a potential early summer date. But hoteliers in Davos, the alpine resort that has hosted the global conference for the...

Interview with Robert Mark As we move deeper and deeper into this covid crisis, more and more people understand that there’s a lot more to fear besides the disease itself. As the economic impact and the full scale of the damage caused by the lockdowns and the shutdowns become undeniable, there are too many questions lacking any sort of convincing answer and the future for so many employees, business owners, investors and ordinary savers seems bleak and uncertain....

Interview with Robert Mark As we move deeper and deeper into this covid crisis, more and more people understand that there’s a lot more to fear besides the disease itself. As the economic impact and the full scale of the damage caused by the lockdowns and the shutdowns become undeniable, there are too many questions lacking any sort of convincing answer and the future for so many employees, business owners, investors and ordinary savers seems bleak and uncertain. The one thing...

It is a bilateral agreement on agriculture signed in 1999 – and not the 1972 Free Trade Agreement – that lifted duties and quotas for Swiss-made cheese destined for the EU market. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer The authors of a popular initiative to limit immigration to Switzerland from the 27-nation European Union say a “yes” vote will not affect Swiss businesses’ access to the EU market. A fact check shows the claim to be misleading. Opponents to the Swiss People’s...

Yasmine Bourgeois, a member of the Zurich city parliament for the centre-right Radical-Liberal party. swissinfo.ch Switzerland doesn’t need two weeks of paternity leave, says Radical-Liberal politician Yasmine Bourgeois. The mother of three says if the proposal is accepted on September 27, left-wing groups will keep asking for more and more. As a mother who is not only against paternity leave but who is a member of the opposition committee, Yasmine Bourgeois is...

Switzerland and Britain are talking of closer cooperation as two major economies that are not part of the EU. © Keystone / Peter Schneider Switzerland and Britain are thrashing out a post-Brexit financial services treaty that is being billed as a global standard for common sense. It also takes aim at perceived EU inflexibility that has seen the Swiss stock market frozen out of European markets. The proposed treaty to “deepen cooperation” on a whole range of financial...

On 27 September 2020, Swiss voters have many decisions to make. This time the list of votes includes decisions on fighter jets, hunting, tax deductions for child care and paternity leave. Probably the most important among them is a decision on whether to accept a proposal to end the EU agreement on the free movement of people between Switzerland and the bloc, known as the Limitation Initiative. © Miriam Doerr | Dreamstime.comThe agreement between Switzerland and the EU on the free...

Interview with Theodore Deden Claudio Grass (CG): Looking at the damage inflicted upon supply chains, production facilities and global trade in particular, how quickly could these operations snap back even if all COVID-related restrictions were lifted tomorrow? Do you think we’ll eventually get back to business as usual, or have we now experienced a permanent shift to a “new normal”? Theodore Deden (TD): Forget about the legal COVID-related restrictions. If it were...

Interview with Theodore Deden Claudio Grass (CG): Looking at the damage inflicted upon supply chains, production facilities and global trade in particular, how quickly could these operations snap back even if all COVID-related restrictions were lifted tomorrow? Do you think we’ll eventually get back to business as usual, or have we now experienced a permanent shift to a “new normal”? Theodore Deden (TD): Forget about the legal COVID-related restrictions. If it were really just...