In Switzerland, the question of a train arriving at its destination both safely and perfectly on time has never really been an issue. The Swiss train system has for decades been renowned the world over …
A Swiss Commuter’s Everyday Life
Category: Economy
The Optimism of a Pessimist
A lot of people are upset with me these days. For the past several years, I have been rather vocal in stressing the mounting risks of an unbalanced world. With that stance comes the inevitable …
The Best Bets in Asia
Asia continues to look appealing for long-term investors. The region offers strong GDP growth; it has built up large trade surpluses and high foreign exchange reserves; the emergence of China has reduced its dependence on …
What Happens if M&A Activity Eases?
The retail sector looks set to face even tougher times, says Fiona Shaikh on Reuters.co.uk, as the housing market continues to slump and consumers feel increasingly fragile due to the “growing mountain of debt”. Retail …
Resilience in a Vulnerable World
Notwithstanding the tragedy of London, there can be no mistaking the apparent resilience of the global economy and world financial markets in the face of such adversity. The free world seems more determined than ever …
Japan’s New Era
The evidence is mounting that after its so called ‘lost decade’ Japan’s economy and markets have at last turned the corner, and may even be on the verge of a new era of consolidation and …
Kasparov’s New Chess Game
My wife Katrin is also sometimes my researcher, especially for stories from the Baltic, since she is Estonian and also speaks fluent Russian. Most recently, there has been a lot of chatter about Gary Kasparov, …
A Gross error of judgment?
When one of the world’s best fixed-income investors suddenly switches from bearish to bullish, we have to take note. But has Bill Gross been turned upside down by listening to too many bad economists? Pythia, …
The Rules of Disengagement
There are unambiguous rules of disengagement from the deflationary territory. Israel’s short-term interest rates are extraordinarily low, but the economy would definitely benefit from a more accommodative monetary stance, in our opinion. The consumer price …
Hustle the East
Riddle me this, riddle me that… It consumes half of the world’s cement, a third of its coal and one-quarter of its aluminum. It is second in oil and energy consumption, behind only the United …