The EU Pandemic Relief Deal After intense negotiations, long days and nights of clashes and a distinctly sour note underlying the entire summit, European Union leaders finally agreed on an unprecedented 1.82 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and COVID recovery package. This agreement provided €750 billion in funding meant to counter the impact of the pandemic, …
Tag: Claudio Grass
Is the West repeating India’s mistakes? – Part II
Interview with Jayant Bhandari Claudio Grass (CG): In such a vast and incredibly diverse country like India, can top-down measures and centralized policies like affirmative action or caste-based economic incentives effectively force social change and economic equality? Or can they be seen as merely symbolic moves, or perhaps just political maneuvers? Jayant Bhandari (JB): The government …
The attitude should be gratitude
During these increasingly polarized times, it is easy for logical debates to give way to emotionally charged shouting matches. Once the idea of free dialogue is gone, riots, destruction and violence are sure to follow, as we’ve seen in almost the entire Western world over the last weeks. However, there is a much more important …
“A crisis must never be misused to extend state power”
Interview with H.S.H. Prince Michael of Liechtenstein In these times of great uncertainty and widespread fear, it is natural for many citizens to turn to their leaders for guidance and reassurance. However, these much-needed qualities of real leadership have proven to be elusive in many countries around the world. Instead of that, in the US …
Corona crisis: the cost of the response – Part I
The absolutely unprecedented wave of shutdowns, new restrictions and regulations that the coronavirus epidemic has triggered on a global scale is truly hard to quantify. We’ve simply never seen anything like it before. Never in the history of mankind have countries all over the globe intentionally hit the kill switch on their own economies and …
Is gold still a safe haven?
There have been moments in recent months when many gold owners, myself included, have asked themselves whether gold might have lost its safe haven status, at least in the western world. Was it enough for two generations, who grew up in a paper money system, to forget the history and the 5000-year-old status of gold …
What lies ahead for gold in 2020
Over the last few months, gold’s performance has been remarkable. Many market observers and mainstream analysts have pointed to various geopolitical developments in their efforts to explain away the bullishness as a reaction to whatever happens to be in the headlines at the time. The Trump impeachment, the US-China trade war, more recently the tensions …
Investing in crypto the sound way!
Interview with Christian Zulliger I have long been fascinated by the far-reaching consequences and the great potential of the wave of new technologies and ideas that emerged with the crypto revolution. While most of us first came into contact with these concepts in 2017, this tectonic shift that is only just beginning has been in …
“The seeds have been sown for unrest in 2020 in Europe”
Interview with Godfrey Bloom The latest election in the UK promised to bring about a long-overdue end to the Brexit story. Getting out the EU has been a long and winding road for Britain and the multiple delays and setbacks have both infuriated and disappointed the millions of citizens who voted to Leave, by now …
The destruction of civilization – implications of extreme monetary interventions
When I was asked to write an article about the impact of negative interest rates and negative yielding bonds, I thought this is a chance to look at the topic from a broader perspective. There have been lots of articles speculating about the possible implications and focusing on their impact in the short run, but …