You might think that running a big country such as the United States would be hard and definitely at least a full time job: Well no, it isn’t. At least not when considering how many posts President Trump shares on social media. And not only at odd hours (and outside office hours – if there […]
How Trump’s Tariffs Affect Global Supply Chains
iPhones are expensive, even more so if the purchase is not subsidised by your mobile phone company, and a lot of the cost (especially if you pay the full price) is Apple’s profit margin: at present an iPhone costs in the region of $330 to produce. The supply chain for a typical iPhone is vast […]
The Cost of Combining Politics and Business
Politics and business, for a number of reasons, do not make good bedfellows! Take Elon Musk for example: While he and his minions are running havoc cutting (or more likely ‘slashing’) costs within the US government, sales of his Tesla cars have hit the rocks. In Switzerland in January 26.6% fewer Teslas were registered than […]
The Rise of Global Powers: Challenges for Europe
The world increasingly is revolving around three major powers: the United States, Russia and China. And with all three blocs being led by autocratic personalities and governments, a degree of confrontation is pre-programmed: America seeks to take control of the Panama Canal, would like to accept Canada as the 51st state and wants to buy […]
Navigating Citizenship Tests: A Global Perspective
Besides economic benefits (particularly relevant in light of the ageing and shrinking population of the developed world), new citizens can be seen as adding diversity, new perspectives, and global connections. On the other hand, as the populist trends in many countries around the world in recent years have shown, in an increasingly fraught political and […]
Can AI Surpass Human Intelligence? A Deep Dive
As can be expected, there is a big debate raging about the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence (AI), not least also in our company, where one of my colleagues professes to be a bit of an expert in the matter (he does on the side have his own AI consulting business). My colleague is […]
Generational Views on Work: Gen Z vs Baby Boomers
Assuming that you are not retired yet, is your job an important part of your life? The average person will spend 90‘000 hours at work over a lifetime, compared with roughly 230‘000 hours (or approximately 1/3 of our life) we spend sleeping. According to the World Values Survey published in 2023 by King‘s College London […]
Are We Seeing a Decline in Adult Intelligence?
The world is getting less intelligent! I have had the impression for quite a long time, but now it is official: according to data published by the OECD in December, adults are less literate now than they were a decade ago. Interesting about this assessment is, that it looks at literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem […]
The Hassles of 2FA and MFA
Sure, cybercrime is all pervasive nowadays and with ever more of us increasingly interacting with the world digitally security is paramount. So we all are used to Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as far as for example and probably most importantly our online banking is concerned. And don’t get me wrong: Of course […]
Swiss Youth Earnings: Expectations vs. Reality
A recent (non representative) street survey in Switzerland by a Swiss media group showed that kids expect to earn CHF 20’000 (that’s nearly $24‘000) or more a month in a country where the average monthly salary stands at roughly CHF 7‘000. Clearly there is a wide gap between expectations and what these young adults ultimately […]
The grumpy older man 