The top 10% pay 70% of all taxes,

The top 25% pay 86%

The top 50% pay 97%.

The Bottom 50% of the population pay only 3% of Federal Income Taxes.

Is this what you call Fair Taxation?

In Fact, I would bet the a majority of the bottom 50% receive Federal Benefits or subsidies, which is a form of negative taxation!

.0047964 is the approx monthly payment on a house, given a 20% downpayment.

eg. $2,000,000 house.

Your downpayment of 20% is $400,000.00.

Your monthly mortgage payment is ($2,000,000 x .00479640) = $9592.80

Notes:  This is for a 20% downpayment.  30year Fixed Rate loan.  6% 30 Year Loan.

News from Around the World…

October 5, 2011

Apple.com on Steve Jobs Oct 5, 2011 - 1955 - 2011

ABC News Reports on Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

China Daily News Reports on Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

Cnet News Reports on Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

CNN News Reports on Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

Drudge Report News Reports on Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

Fox News on Steve Jobs Oct 5, 2011 - 1955 - 2011

Google on Steve Jobs Oct 5, 2011 - 1955 - 2011

India Times on Steve Jobs Oct 5, 2011 - 1955 - 2011

Korea Times on Steve Jobs Oct 5, 2011 - 1955 - 2011

Los Angeles Times on Steve Jobs Oct 5, 2011 - 1955 - 2011

New York Times on Steve Jobs Oct 5, 2011 - 1955 - 2011

San Jose Mercury News on Steve Jobs Oct 5, 2011 - 1955 - 2011

The Straight Times Singapore - Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

The Times UK - Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

Washington Times - Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

Yahoo Home Page - Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

The Economist - Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

Time Magazine - Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

USA Today - Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

CEPHALON INC (CEPH) 3.83%

ALKERMES INC (ALKS) 3.69%

GILEAD SCIENCES (GILD) 3.66%

CELGENE CP (CELG) 3.63%

GENENTECH INC (DNA) 3.62%

AMGEN (AMGN) 3.55%

OSI PHARMACEUTIC (OSIP) 3.54%

ICOS CP (ICOS) 3.53%

BIOGEN IDEC INC (BIIB) 3.52%

VERTEX PHARMACEUT (VRTX) 3.50%

PowerShares Dynamic Biotech & Genome (PBE)

GILEAD SCIENCES (GILD) 5.25%

APPLERA CORP-APPLIED (ABI) 5.2%

WATERS CP (WAT) 5.17%

AMGEN (AMGN) 5.12%

SIGMA ALDRICH CP (SIAL) 5.08%

GENZYME CORPORATION (GENZ) 5%

GENENTECH INC (DNA) 4.99%

BIOGEN IDEC INC (BIIB) 4.87%

HUMAN GENOME SCI (HGSI) 2.95%

BRUKER BIOSCIENCES (BRKR) 2.94%

IShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB)

AMGEN (AMGN) 15.36%

GILEAD SCIENCES (GILD) 6.04%

CELGENE CP (CELG) 4.51%

TEVA PHARM INDS AD (TEVA) 3.91%

BIOGEN IDEC INC (BIIB) 3.51%

GENZYME CORPORATION (GENZ) 3.42%

VERTEX PHARMACEUT (VRTX) 2.66%

MEDIMMUNE INC (MEDI) 1.64%

SEPRACOR INC (SEPR) 1.53%

SHIRE PLC ADS (SHPGY) 1.49%

First Trust AMEX Biotechnology (FBT)

Myogen, Inc. 6.13%

HUMAN GENOME SCI (HGSI) 5.78%

ICOS CP (ICOS) 5.55%

PDL BIOPHARMA INC (PDLI) 5.52%

GILEAD SCIENCES (GILD) 5.46%

MEDIMMUNE INC (MEDI) 5.45%

GENENTECH INC (DNA) 5.03%

AMGEN (AMGN) 4.97%

BIOGEN IDEC INC (BIIB) 4.96%

GENZYME CORPORATION (GENZ) 4.93%

Biotech HOLDRs (BBH)

GENENTECH INC (DNA) 38.29%

AMGEN (AMGN) 25.38%

GILEAD SCIENCES (GILD) 11.52%

BIOGEN IDEC INC (BIIB) 6.71%

GENZYME CORPORATION (GENZ) 4.94%

APPLERA CORP-APPLIED (ABI) 3.51%

MEDIMMUNE INC (MEDI) 2.51%

SHIRE PLC ADS (SHPGY) 2.01%

SEPRACOR INC (SEPR) 1.62%

MILLENNIUM PHARM (MLNM) 0.73%

So the fed is pumping easy money into the economy, and it’s finding its way into the stock market, the precious metals market, and speculative oil.  It’s not hitting real estate, because prices are still falling.  Agriculture prices are also flat to dropping.  Labor prices are flat.  Commercial real estate is also deflating.

So everything based on easy “credit” is deflating (real estate).  Banks aren’t lending much, so there appears to be little velocity in terms of the money supply.

What then can people speculate in?  Stocks?  Gold?  Precious metals?  Oil?  Things that are not “input” factors into the economy, but rather a thermometer of the economy.  If the US Dollar is weakening and the equity markets rising, but top line revenue flat to dropping, what does this mean?  Higher PE ratios?  Bubble atmosphere?  Can this be sustained if top line revenue and profit is not existant?

The irony is that in order for this equity bubble to continue, we have to see top line revenue increase, which means we have to see inflation kick in.  This is the only way to sustain the valuation ratio.  The rubberband can only be pulled so much before it violently pulls back.

Would I want to be a buyer of this market?  No.  It’s too risky.   Would I want to be on the short side?  That’s questionable too, as this rally can continue irrationally for sometime, and nobody knows how long.

The best thing to do at this point may be to diversify.  Diversify into precious metals, agriculture, some equity, but also keep some shorts.  The devil’s in the details…

1. Add to your position.
2. Lighten up on your position.
3. Dump your position completely.
4. Hold and do nothing.
5. Hedge your position by buying or selling another stock/etf/index.

Any of the above depends on your conviction level and time horizon.

What could make the market go higher?  More cheap money from the government.  If not, the market should see a correction.

I’ve recuperated about $2500 of my original principal, and hope to get the remaining $1000 soon.  My Prosper account says that my principal balance is $1200, approx $200 more than my original investment.  I doubt I’ll get the full $1200 back.

Would I continue to invest in Prosper?  No.  The returns are just not worth it.  Better to buy CD’s.  There are investors with millions in Prosper with a negative to a barely 1% return.  Pity.

Hey! Wait a minute!  Where’s my government bail out?  Aren’t I a quasi bank?

—

Update: May 6, 2010.

Have received the majority of my money back.  Still waiting to collect about $150.  If I do collect the $150, I will have lost approx $50 on this entire transaction.  Too many charge offs, and dead beats on Prosper.com.  Overall, my money sat at prosper for approx 3 years, and I will prob end up losing about $50 – $200 (1.4% – 5.7% loss).  Which if you add in the opportunity cost, is really a loss of about 3% to 8.5%.

Bottom line, from my experience, Prosper.com doesn’t work.

6/24/11 – Update

Have collected everything but approx $25.  So after 4 years, I ended up losing $25 and a heck of alot of time logging in, doing research, checking for loans, etc…  With my time and effort, prob runs in the thousands (my time is expensive )  Bottom line again, Prosper didn’t work for me.

I’d like to hear from other Prosper members.  How’s it working out for you?

Unemployment Rate

Capacity Utilization

Tax Receipts