While taking down the Swiss economy? Right before the so called 'shocking' move by the Swiss bank, Swiss business leaders and politicians were at the Whitehouse, talking job creation, in the US??? What the hell!? Flashback to Thursday..
Swiss National Bank moves to Ditch Euro Cap- Sending Shockwaves?
What's going on here? This seems to be a surprise? Of course, who really knows?Personally, I have a bit of a problem believing that any bank would make such a surprise move.
That's right, I was struggling to believe this was anything close to a "surprise"Then I got wind of this interesting tidbit.....
Swiss Business and Government Leaders Participate in White House Investment Mission
Senior White House and Cabinet officials today hosted a delegation of leaders of eight Swiss companies in the Roosevelt Room to discuss opportunities to spur new investments and create jobs for American workers. As part of the meeting, the companies announced their plans to invest about $3 billion into their combined U.S. operations in 2015. These new job-creating investments build on the roughly $140 billion in Swiss foreign direct investment (FDI) stock that makes Switzerland the sixth-largest source of FDI in the United States and a crucial commercial partner.
Many of the executives, who were joined today by senior Swiss government officials, also announced their firms’ plans to expand or launch apprenticeship programs in the United States, reinforcing President Obama’s goal of doubling registered apprenticeships in the U.S. over the next five years. For details on the companies and their specific announcements, please see the Commerce Department’s fact sheet.
Today’s discussion, hosted by Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, and Labor Secretary Tom Perez, was an important opportunity to engage with these companies on the mutual benefits of job-creating FDI while discussing the additional steps we can take together to make the United States an increasingly competitive location for companies from around the world to locate, grow, and hire. One of the key messages we heard in today’s discussion, and which we hear from our commercial partners around the world, is that the fundamental strengths of the U.S. economy — an educated workforce, large middle class, reliable infrastructure, transparent regulatory system — are the very qualities that make us so attractive to foreign investors looking to grow their businesses and create jobs.In 2014, the U.S. economy added nearly 3 million jobs, the most since the 1990s. Our economic growth in the last two quarters was the strongest in more than a decade. Our manufacturing sector is growing faster than the economy and adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. And low energy costs, and our status as the world’s top oil and gas producer, are reinforcing the United States as the top destination for investment.Among the steps discussed today to further this progress were increasing our innovative capacity, investing in workforce skills that connect Americans to jobs, strengthening our intellectual property protections, and negotiating strong trade agreements that expand markets for U.S.-based operations and American workers.Thanks to the leadership of U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein Suzi LeVine, today’s investment mission builds on this Administration’s commitment to do everything we can to bring job-creating investment from around the world to the United States. That is why President Obama in 2011 launched SelectUSA, a global team in embassies abroad and agencies at home that has so far helped about 1,000 companies seeking to make investments in the United States.
So, the Swiss are in the US talking about creating US jobs? And this move to delink from the Euro looks to be a Swiss economy destroyer while coincidentally encouraging the move of Swiss jobs outside of the country. From the articles linked in Thursday's post:
“If sustained, the impact of the decision on Switzerland’s economy could be significant for a few years. Exporters will suffer lower price competitiveness and might move more production outside the country. Tourism and retail trade are also likely to suffer. A period of strong deflation is a serious risk"
This does appear to be a move by the Swiss ahead of the EU quantitative easing that is coming down the pipeline.
" But it could well be that the SNB has chosen to front-run the likely move to QE from the ECB, whether than happens next week or the subsequent meeting in March."
From earlier today :