The Financial Report
By Janet Tavakoli
China Belt Road vs Dollar Dominance: 2014 to 2025 Update
- Posted May 5, 2014
- By Janet Tavakoli
In October of 2013, with China poised to overtake the U.S. as the largest economy in the word, Ai Boajun, vice mayor of Shanghai and member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Shanghai Committee, told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs he wants a stronger renminbi with free convertibility and cross border trading in local currency.
Gold as Money: 2025 Perspective and Analysis
- Posted August 30, 2013
- By Janet Tavakoli
Who is right? Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger and many more say you shouldn’t own gold. Ray Dalio, David Einhorn, Jim Rogers, John Paulson, George Soros, and I (among many others) own some gold—but that doesn’t mean you should own it.
AIG Bailout Litigation and Crisis Accountability: 2025 View
- Posted August 7, 2013
- By Janet Tavakoli
Updated from original 2013 analysis in Juen 2025 to reflect legal conclusions and ongoing enforcement developments] Executive Summary More than a decade after the 2008 financial crisis, the legal challenges surrounding the American International Group (AIG) bailout have reached their conclusion, while questions about accountability for systemic fraud remain largely unresolved. This analysis examines the
Goldman Sachs, AIG, and IKB: Structured Finance Disputes – Updated Analysis
- Posted July 10, 2013
- By Janet Tavakoli
Updated June 2025 Tavakoli Structured Finance has been analyzing massive risks and windfall opportunities presented by grave flaws in structured finance for over two decades. This analysis examines the developments from a historical perspective beginning with July 16, 2010, and provides a comprehensive update on the outcomes of major cases and investigations through 2025. The
Understanding Loss Aversion: Why Losses Loom Larger
- Posted July 2, 2013
- By Janet Tavakoli
Updated July 13, 2025Original article by Janet Tavakoli, July 2, 2013 The Foundation of Loss Aversion Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, pioneers in the study of the psychology of judgment and decision making, discovered that people feel worse about the pain that comes with loss than they do about the pleasure that comes with an
Iran Currency Crisis 2025: When Money Dies
- Posted October 4, 2012
- By Janet Tavakoli
What happens when a country’s currency is in freefall? You need look no further than current turmoil in Iran to find out. Meat is a luxury item. People are hoarding food because prices are skyrocketing. Relative to the dollar, the rial dropped 60% in eight days including a drop of 18 percent on October 1. Yesterday the rate was 36,100 to the dollar, but you couldn’t trade the rial for dollars. In other words, the currency stopped being convertible.
LBBW vs Goldman Sachs and TCW : Davis Square VI Case Outcome
- Posted October 5, 2010
- By Janet Tavakoli
Goldman Sachs and TCW Sued by Landesbank Baden-Wuertemberg Over Davis Square VI, an AIG CDO Bailed Out by Taxpayers
Bill Ackman and the MBIA Confidence Game: A Big Short
- Posted May 4, 2010
- By Janet Tavakoli
MBIA escalated its risk. The bond insurer wrote credit derivatives on new “Triple-A” risk backed by malignant mortgage loans, including built-to-fail mezzanine CDOs. It didn’t matter how much “confidence” Wall Street, rating agencies, bond insurers, and regulators had in maintaining a collective financial lie; MBIA was unstable.
Michael Lewis vs Wall Street Reality: Expert Analysis
- Posted March 15, 2010
- By Janet Tavakoli
By Janet Tavakoli Updated June 2025 Wall Street Insider vs Media Narrative My Experience in Salomon’s 1985 Training Class I was in the Salomon Brothers’ 1985 training class that Michael Lewis lampooned in his amusing book, Liar’s Poker. Imagine my surprise to see him billed as a trader on 60 Minutes, since he was actually
Taleb’s Stranded Swan?
- Posted June 3, 2009
- By Janet Tavakoli
Updated June 2025 Following my analysis of the false $20 billion performance claims, additional questions emerge about the sustainability and scalability of Nassim Taleb’s black swan fund strategy. While the mythical gains have been debunked, the underlying strategy faces even more fundamental challenges that investors should understand. The black swan approach—buying deep out-of-the-money options to
Reports of Huge Gains in Nassim Taleb’s Fund Are False
- Posted June 1, 2009
- By Janet Tavakoli
The $20 Billion Claim A recent GQ article made headlines by quoting Nassim Nicholas Taleb as claiming extraordinary gains during the market downturn: “we made $20 billion for our clients, half a billion for the Black Swan fund.” When I contacted Taleb directly to verify this staggering figure, his response was telling. “The quote is
Wall Street’s Bigger Ponzi: How Banks Dwarfed Madoff’s Scheme
- Posted December 13, 2008
- By Janet Tavakoli
Originally published December 2008, updated June 2025 If justice is to be served, Madoff deserved many things, including many new acquaintances—and ultimately received them during his 12 years in federal prison before his death in April 2021 at age 82. Bernard Madoff confessed—not the securitization “professionals” who worked for famous investment banks, certain CDO managers,
