Janet Tavakoli

Sure the economy is still a mess, unemployment is high, civil services and pensions are being slashed, a record number of people are on food stamps, and families are losing homes. But Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, does his best to distract the United States from these...

In an August 2010 commentary about JPMorgan's losses in coal trades I wrote: "The commodities division isn't the only area in which JPMorgan is vulnerable. Credit derivatives, interest rate derivatives, and currency trading are vulnerable to leveraged hidden bets. Ambitious managers strive to pump speculative earnings from zero to hero."

At this year's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Warren Buffett, the billionaire CEO and the world's 2nd richest man defended his call for higher taxes: "When Charlie [Munger, billionaire Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway] and I took this job, we did not decide to put our citizenship in a blind...

In my previous post, I quoted from MF Global's crisis plan, a document called "Stress Scenario Analysis -- Downgrade Potential Impact on MF Global." Work on that document began in January 2011, although it apparently wasn't completed until around 18 days before the bankruptcy. MF Global...

The Financial Times reported that many industry professionals were resigned to the idea that there would be no criminal charges in the matter of massive misuse of so-called segregated customer funds by MF Global. According to the article, MF Global's Trustee, James Giddens, is trying to sell the...

When New York-based MF Global collapsed on October 31, 2011, its $41 billion in assets made it the eighth largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and the biggest financial firm to implode since Lehman in September 2008. Then Chairman and CEO Jon Corzine is connected to the head of...

Last week a Goldman Sachs former employee Greg Smith wrote an op-ed for the New York Times explaining why he was resigning from Goldman Sachs. He alleged Goldman's culture had recently deteriorated and that Goldman's "toxic and destructive" culture isn't doing right by its clients.

The...

Every day I read the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the New York Times and Handelsblatt. Then I skim other finance papers online. I also read several finance blogs. Each day I ask myself what is the most important news story of the day. Usually I vote for one...

Credit derivatives were originally hyped as hedging tools to protect the value of a portfolio. For example, if you own a bond, you can buy protection against the possibility of default by paying a protection premium, similar to the premium you pay on an insurance policy. The difference between insurance...

MF Global's October 2011 bankruptcy was the eighth largest bankruptcy by assets in the United States. James Giddens, the bankruptcy trustee, issued a press release on February 6 stating that his investigation found that money from customer accounts that was supposed to be segregated was improperly used to fund MF...

The Fed has been engaging in closed door meetings to change rules for banks. It wasn't until Victoria McGrane and Jon Hilsenrath at the Wall Street Journal asked for the results of votes that the Fed posted them on its web site. Since June 2010, the Fed has...

Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor and philosopher remarked: "Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible; life in a palace is possible; therefore even in a palace a right life is possible."

Often I write about people making money by stretching ethics, flouting rules, or breaking the...

Many view gold as a currency alternative as central banks print money and debase their currencies. Whether or not gold is a good investment is a matter of opinion versus other alternatives.

The following chart reflects my own view of conditions that are historically good and bad for gold....

Regulators haven't been able to keep up with price manipulation in the commodities markets or any other market. Why do games persist? The short answer is because they can, and because they can be very profitable in the short run.

If you've Googled gold or silver, you've probably come across...

When I think of a China bull and a China bear, I think of the legendary dueling Jims: Jim Rogers and Jim Chanos. In response to investors bearish on China, Jim Rogers famously said: "I find it interesting that people who couldn't spell China 10 years ago are now experts."...

In previous posts, I've mentioned serious fiscal problems that need to be addressed at state and local levels. This varies by region and some issues are potentially solvable.

I live in Illinois, which is ground zero for fraud, corruption, underfunded pension funds and general fiscal mismanagement. It's an example...

In her book Third World America, Arianna Huffington urged us to break "the choke hold that special interest money has on our politics." (P. 172) Congress allowed no-strings bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis and ongoing impunity and benefits for connected Wall Street banks. Yet there has...

Yesterday Congress held another hearing on MF Global. One representative seemed to suggest that MF Global's movement of money to the UK may have somehow been allowable under Rule 1.25. It was as if a Member of Congress had become Corzine's PR flack, an apologist for Corzine, and was trying...

A strange thing happened in Chicago on Thursday, December 8. An audience of well-heeled professionals, a mixture of Democrats and Republicans, packed a room at the Drake Hotel to hear Robert Shiller, a Yale professor, give a presentation on the housing market. A few members of the audience were in...

It's as if Jon Corzine's PR machine is in top spin mode. You'll recall Jon Corzine is the former head of Goldman Sachs and former CEO of MF Global that appeared in front of Congress yesterday to answer questions about an estimated $600 million to $1.2 billion in missing money...