Tag Archives: Featured

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday raised the target policy interest rate (the federal funds rate) to 4.75 percent, an increase of 25 basis points. With this latest increase, the target has increased 4.5 percent since February 2022, although this latest increase of 25 basis points is the smallest increase since March of last year. Indeed, the FOMC has slowed its rate of increase over the past three months. After four 75 basis...

© Ngampol Thongsai | Dreamstime.com The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published on 31 January 2023, shows that most countries are failing to stop corruption. The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The global average remains unchanged for over a decade at just 43 out of 100. More than two-thirds of countries score below...

Madison, Wisconsin – (February 4th, 2023) – A large bipartisan contingent of Wisconsin legislators seek to end Wisconsin’s controversial practice of levying sales tax on purchases of gold and silver. Senate Bill 33, primarily sponsored by Sen. Duey Strobel (R – Saukville) and Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R – Appleton), and cosponsored by Rep. Shae Sortwell, enjoys wide support – and would align Wisconsin with the policies of 42 other U.S. states. Senate Bill 33...

Join the Mises Institute at the 2023 Libertarian Scholars Conference on Saturday, September 23. We’ll meet at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee. The first Libertarian Scholars Conference was held in New York City in 1972 under the aegis of the Center for Libertarian Studies. The conference was held annually (except for 1973) throughout the 1970s in New York or Princeton, New Jersey (1977, 1978), with the 8th and last “national” conference taking place at the...

Given that the debt-ceiling debate is likely to continue for a few months, examining the Constitution provides us with the reasons our nation has been plunged into this monetary morass.  Federal officials have now run up the federal government’s debt to more than $31.5 trillion. That’s a lot of money. And it’s also a lot of interest payments.  Too much debt is not a good thing, either for a family or a government. Even the big-spending members of Congress...

The liberal international order was a screen and a sham. But this does not mean that liberalism is lost. The following longform piece was an essay submitted in May 2022 to the Mont Pelerin Society for the Hayek Essay Contest on the topic of international order. Although rejected, the subject is important and of interest for our readers. An international authority which effectively limits the powers of the state over the individual will be one of the best safeguards...

In 2022, central banks will have purchased the largest amount of gold in recent history. According to the World Gold Council, central bank purchases of gold have reached a level not seen since 1967. The world’s central banks bought 673 metric tons in one month, and in the third quarter, the figure reached 400 metric tons. This is interesting because the flow from central banks since 2020 had been eminently net sales. Why are global central banks adding gold to their...

Pharmaceutical exports in nominal terms increased by 40% since the Ukraine war began. However, export volume increased only slightly. © Keystone / Christian Beutler Swiss exports of pharmaceuticals to Russia, which are not subject to sanctions, reached a 30-year record last year, buoyed by high prices. Roche, Novartis and the other Swiss pharma companies brought in CHF2.1 billion ($2.3 billion) from the export of pharmaceuticals to Russia in 2022. In 2021 the Swiss...

Jeff Snider, Headmaster of Eurodollar University, joins the podcast to talk about the perverse complexities of the Eurodollar system. What even is a Eurodollar? Why was the system created? Keith and Jeff discuss the Eurodollar market and then give their hot takes in a hilarious lightning round. We hope you enjoy this insightful, whirlwind of an episode! Follow Jeff on Twitter and his website. Connect with Keith Weiner and Monetary Metals on Twitter: @RealKeithWeiner...

Reuters The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will make a loss of CHF132 billion in 2022, and distribution of profits to the confederation and the cantons will be suspended. What does this mean for the stability of the SNB and what would happen if it faces another large loss? The SNB still has money. However, not quite as much as at the beginning of last year. Because of last year’s loss, its equity capital has fallen from CHF198 billion to CHF66 billion. In the event of...