Peter Schiff: "I don't think Obama is going to finish his second term without the bottom dropping out."

Peter David Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker, author and financial commentator. Schiff is CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc., a broker-dealer based in Westport, Connecticut.

Schiff: We're Heading For A Crisis Worse Than 2007

Venture Capital anyone???

"The challenge has been formidable. Faced with a near-frozen market for initial public offerings and few mergers or acquisitions, many venture-capital firms have thrown more of their resources behind only their portfolios of existing businesses. Some have ceased investing altogether. In fact, 64 of the 721 U.S. venture-capital firms that invested in companies between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008 haven't made an investment since then, according to according to Dow Jones VentureSource, a research firm owned by News Corp., which also publishes SmartMoney.com and The Wall Street Journal."

"VCs Change Their Tune" By Diana Ransom, WSJ, 11/11/2009


"This year, 435 venture-capital funds have hit the road to raise money, compared with 452 for all of 2008 and 445 in 2007, according to research firm Preqin.

Out of that field, just 134 new venture-capital funds had completed their fund raising and closed to investors as of early November, down from the full-year totals of 309 funds in 2008 and 363 in 2007.

The newcomers raised just $20.4 billion in total capital, down 65% from $58.2 billion in all of 2008, according to Preqin."

"Venture Funds Sweetening the Terms" By Pui-Wing Tam, WSJ, 11/23/2009


"According to International Monetary Fund data, U.S. GDP has fallen to 24% of world GDP from 32% in 2001. And as U.S. capital escapes the weak dollar and high tax rates, the U.S. share of world equity market capitalization has fallen to 30% from 45%. This leaves the U.S. alone with Japan at the bottom of the monetary heap, with rate expectations so low they repel investment."

"Near-Zero Rates Are Hurting the Economy" By David Malpass, WSJ, 12/03/2009

Americans know how to use the moving van to escape high taxes

Soak the Rich, Lose the Rich

Here's the problem for states that want to pry more money out of the wallets of rich people. It never works because people, investment capital and businesses are mobile: They can leave tax-unfriendly states and move to tax-friendly states.

And the evidence that we discovered in our new study for the American Legislative Exchange Council, "Rich States, Poor States," published in March, shows that Americans are more sensitive to high taxes than ever before. The tax differential between low-tax and high-tax states is widening, meaning that a relocation from high-tax California or Ohio, to no-income tax Texas or Tennessee, is all the more financially profitable both in terms of lower tax bills and more job opportunities.

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