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[frankmweber]

FIFA World Cup: Business and Politics - with a little bit of Football thrown in

Did you watch or at least follow this year’s football World Cup? It offered plenty of drama on but also off the pitch. And it showed, once again who is and who isn’t influential in the world of football, or soccer as the Americans call it and to what extent commercial interests and politics are prevalent. Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s President has travelled almost 60‘000 miles to watch games,…

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The Rise of Polarised Politics

Political polarisation has become a global trend in the past 10–15 years, particularly in democracies. The local elections in the U.K. in early May have clearly shown that the political landscape in Britain is now getting more polarised as well, following in the footsteps of for example Germany, Spain and France to name but a few other European nations. On one hand this may be desirable, as more…

[frankmweber]

AI vs Human Advisors: The Future of Investment

Some 45 years ago I trained as a banker in Switzerland and quickly became interested in the stock markets, which led me to work for some two decades as a trader for a Swiss private bank in Geneva and London. What a glorious time this was! There weren’t nowhere near as many regulatory restraints as there are today and markets were much more transparent. Nowadays, besides the regulations and the…

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The Risks of Capping Switzerland's Population Growth

It‘s not very often that a country‘s population has a say on the maximum number of people which are allowed to call themselves its residents. But on 14 June in Switzerland 5.6 million citizens over the age of 18 out of currently 9.1 million inhabitants get the chance to have their say as to whether the population should be capped at 10 million people. In places like United States, New Zealand,…

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Claude: From Famous Namesakes to Modern AI

Claude once upon a time used to be a popular first name, particularly in the French speaking parts of the world. Multiple sources analysing name popularity trends (e.g. Geneanet and similar demographic tools) show that Claude peaked mainly between the 1930s and 1970s, especially in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, and has declined sharply since then. A very rough estimate according to…

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[frankmweber]

Kids' Marketing Needs a Reality Check

Beauty is big business, but increasingly the global brands also create product lines especially marketd to children. Kids nowadays are omnipresent on social networks and big brands such as Gap and Dior capitalise on this trend. The GapKids “Just Dance / Be Yourself” (2024) and Dior Kids “Diorling” (Spring 2025) campaigns both targeted young audiences on a global scale but took very different…

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Catchy Clips orThe New Face of War Propaganda

Since the start of the latest war in the Middle East at the end of March, Lego-style propaganda movies have become very popular (as you would have guessed, they are not associated with the danish brand of plastic construction toys). These are opinionated short clips distributed on social media reacting often to the latest developments be they political or on the battlefield within hours. The…

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Insider Trading Allegations: Trump Administration's Shadowy Deals

Rumours of insider dealing within and close to the Trump administration persist. Satirical piece on corrupt politics and potential consequences Looking at the timing of President Trump’s utterances as far as theirs war is concerned, I can‘t help thinking that somehow they might actually benefit members of his inner circle or other close associates in allowing them to suitably time their stock…

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Why Immigration and Emigration Are on the Rise

Countries worry about immigration, but many don’t realise – or maybe don’t want to know – how many of their own citizens leave each year. In the developed world these days it is trendy to worry about immigration. Not the undesirable kind, meaning criminals and all sort of shady types, but immigrants in general. People like you and me are in the crosshairs too. What goes rather unnoticed,…

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Wine, Crypto, and Modern Art: Confessions of the Confused

There are, broadly speaking, two types of people in the world: those who confidently admit they don’t understand something, and those who nod along vigorously while internally screaming, “What on earth is going on?” This post is dedicated to the latter group—heroes of polite society—who have mastered the ancient art of pretending. Let’s begin with wine. Not drinking wine—that’s straightforward…

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The Hidden Cost: Can Human Life Be Valued?

Can one really calculate the value of a human life? Does it make sense to do so? And if so, how to go about it? In fact there are different accepted ways of estimating the value of of a human life, each serving a very distinct purpose: Economics and public policy often use the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) model, which, other than what it’s name would suggest, doesn’t value a specific…

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The Future of Work: Keynes' 15-Hour Prediction and AI

John Maynard Keynes made a prediction in 1930 that by 2030 we would be working 15 hours per week. And if AI lives up to its admittedly high expectations this may come true. Maybe not for all but at least for some of us. According to an article on Bloomberg, a financial news and data provider, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert William Fogel demonstrated that the average number of lifetime…

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Prediction markets - a modern tool for forecasting

Insider trading, the buying and selling of financial instruments based on privileged information which is not available to a wider public is rightly forbidden. However, there is an other tool, often used by companies and investors to hedge their real-life exposure: Prediction markets. Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket allow you to place bets on a number of topics in politics,…

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Sexy Olympics

Free condoms have been part of the Olympics since 1988, mainly for public health and safety reasons. Besides the public health messaging opportunity (i.e, to promote safe sex globally), during the games bring together thousands of highly energised athletes in their 20’s and 30’s from all over the world. Having trained intensely for years and suddenly having downtime after the competition, this…

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Ageing disgracefully

The demographic trends are undeniable: The world’s population is ageing, and in countries such as China and Japan has even started shrinking. In Britain people aged 65 and older are more than a fifth of the population. And they want to have fun. In a way, those over the age of 55 but under the age of 75—roughly speaking, the baby-boomers and some of what is referred to as “Generation X”—are the…

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Embrace your Solitude

Loneliness is the great modern epidemic that no one wants to talk about, but everyone feels. It’s like that awkward relative at family gatherings – you know they’re there, but you’d rather pretend they don’t exist. And yet, here we are, in the age of technology and connectivity, more alone than ever. Isn’t it just delightful? Let’s start with the basics. Loneliness is no longer just a feeling;…

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The Joy and Struggles of Self-Checkout Shopping