Tag Archives: Politics

Workers will have the option of playing different cards to determine their retirement age and pension return. The Swiss government plans to incrementally increase the retirement age of women to 65 while offering incentives for all people to work longer. The CHF2.8 billion ($2.84 billion) savings measures would be accompanied by a sales tax hike and extra pension payments for hardship cases. On Wednesday, Swiss interior...

An interview with Prof. Angelo M. Codevilla Following decades of the propagation of a false historical narrative regarding Switzerland’s role during WWII, an entire generation, especially in the West, has grown up with a distorted version of events, based on unfounded and unsubstantiated claims. To set the record straight, Claudio Grass interviewed Professor Codevilla, whose book “Between The Alps and a Hard Place“, examining the real history of the Swiss in WWII, has made a significant...

As the 30 June 2019 expiry date for Swiss-EU stock market equivalence approaches, the National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, has given a clear mandate to extend negotiations over the nation’s relationship with the EU. © Denis Linine | Dreamstime.com The negotiations, which began in 2014, are centred on the Framework Agreement, an arrangement designed to replace the patchwork of deals Switzerland has with the EU, deals that include free movement of people, mutual recognition of industrial...

The gap between Switzerland’s official retirement age – 65 for men and 64 for women – and average life expectancy is long. Life expectancy at 65 is 20 years for men (85) and 23 for women (88). © Andor Bujdoso | Dreamstime.com More and more people are questioning the viability of living for two decades or more without working, particularly when the population is aging and the pension system is crumbling. However, rather than raising the official retirement age, some favour financial incentives...

The tit-for-tat strategies between Switzerland and the EU appear to take their course over access to each other’s stock exchanges and a framework agreement. The Swiss finance ministry has reaffirmed that it is ready to ban stock exchanges in the European Union from trading Swiss shares – in a worsening row with Brussels over the future of bilateral relations. “In the event of stock market equivalence not being extended,...

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. On May 19, 2019, Swiss voters approved a new set of gun control restrictions. This newly-approved gun control measure would put Switzerland’s gun control laws in line with European Union standards. Under this new law, military-style, semi-automatic weapons would be heavily restricted, while also tightening up gun registration standards. A few exemptions were made for participants in shooting sports who will still be able to...

In 2018, Switzerland and the EU struck a deal to extend Swiss stock market equivalence until 30 June 2019, a date fast approaching. © Marc Bruxelle _ Dreamstime.com Stock market equivalence makes a trade on the Swiss stock exchange equivalent to a trade on an exchange in an EU country. This allows trades to be pooled across countries, something that supports global trade and improves international market liquidity, a win-win for all traders. For this reason, the Swiss Bankers Association...

You can’t eat a cake that has not even been baked yet! Claudio Grass (CG): How do you assess the steps taken so far to fend off the collapse of the pension system, like increasing the retirement age? Do you believe such measures will suffice and how do you evaluate their impact on the citizens’ lives? Carlos A. Gebauer (CAG): Frankly speaking, measures like increasing the retirement age to extend the period of cash-inflow and abbreviate the time of outpayments or, as an alternative at...

“You can’t eat a cake that has not even been baked yet” For quite some time now, I have been closely following news and reports out of Germany regarding the country’s pension system and the immense pressure it is under, placing those who support it and depend on it at great risk. Germany might be widely celebrated as the economic powerhouse of the EU and as its higher net contributor, supporting countries like Greece and Poland, and yet it would appear that the German state is now...

In previous articles, we have outlined in great detail the many faults of the current monetary policy direction of major central banks and the large-scale economic impact of keeping interest rates artificially low. Among the worst offenders is the ECB, that is unapologetically persistent on continuing this exercise in absurdity that are negative interest rates. Over the last few years, the effects of this decision have been felt by pensioners and by responsible, conservative investors,...