Tag Archives: Politics

(draft of monthly column for Caixin) The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States surprised many people, even seasoned political observers and astute investors. He failed to win the popular vote but did carry the electoral college, which is how the US elects its chief executive. His victory is a bit of a Rorshcach test, where people project the issues that allowed Trump to succeed, with...

In recent months, Ray Dalio seems to be undergoing a deep midlife and identity crisis, which has not only led to dramatic recent management changes at the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater, but also resulted in some fairly spectacular cognitive dissonance, as Dalio first praised, then slammed, president Trump. Yesterday. in the latest expression of his building anti-Trumpian sentiment, Bridgewater released a...

The diplomatic scandal between Turkey and the Netherlands deteriorated overnight, when Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warned on Sunday that Turkey would retaliate in the "harshest ways" after Turkish ministers were barred from speaking in Rotterdam, leading to a major protest in front of the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam, while the Dutch embassy in Istanbul was closed off due to "safety concerns." "This situation has been protested in the strongest manner by our side, and it has been...

In Switzerland, those who own the home they live in must add imputed rent to their income when calculating their income tax. This means owner-occupiers are taxed for living in their own homes, an odd concept for some who are new to Switzerland. © Ronnie Wu | Dreamstime.com In addition to paying tax on imputed rent, home owner-occupiers can deduct maintenance and mortgage interest costs from their taxable income. For many the overall income-tax effect of home ownership is positive. Imputed...

© Ronnie Wu | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge In Switzerland, those who own the home they live in must add imputed rent to their income when calculating their income tax. This means owner-occupiers are taxed for living in their own homes, an odd concept for some who are new to Switzerland. In addition to paying tax on imputed rent, home owner-occupiers can deduct maintenance and mortgage interest costs from their...

One year after Switzerland’s Council of States (upper house) voted in favour of controlling lobbyists’ access to parliament, the draft proposed implementation plan has been rejected by the commission in charge of it. © Lianna2013 | Dreamstime.com Back in March 2016, the Council of States voted in favour of a parliamentary initiative put forward by state councillor Didier Berberat calling for those accessing parliament to be accredited. The plan envisioned a register where lobbyists would be...

20 Minutes. Some who move to Switzerland might not be aware that they are almost certainly required to pay one of the world’s highest broadcasting licence fees. An annual Swiss licence costs CHF 451.10 per household. The onus is on you to determine if you are liable, sign up with Billag, a subsidiary of Swisscom, and pay. Just because you haven’t registered doesn’t mean you are OK. Fines for non-compliance run as high as CHF 5,000. © Piotr Wawrzyniuk | Dreamstime.com Billag AG collects around...

Summary: Many are discussing a possible head-and-shoulders pattern in the Dollar Index. We are skeptical as other technical signals do not confirm. We recognize scope for disappointment over the border tax and the next batch of employment data, but European politics is the present driver and may not be alleviated soon. Here is the chart nearly everyone is discussing.  The Dollar Index appears to be carving...

Martin Armstrong Frames the Issue Famous market forecaster Martin Armstrong wrote a recent article describing the current situation in Europe. Similar to our article, “Trouble Brewing in the EU”, the Armstrong’s piece discusses growing discontent and fractures in the E.U. Martin Armstrong observes that, “The EU leadership is really trying to make Great Britain pay dearly for voting to exit the Community. Like the...

Over the weekend China used the Trump inauguration to warn about the perils of democracy, touting the relative stability of the Communist system as President Xi Jinping heads toward a twice-a-decade reshuffle of senior leadership posts. Without directly referencing the new president, China wrote that democracy has reached its limits, and deterioration is the inevitable future of capitalism, according to the...