Janet Tavakoli is someone I discovered over the last two years and whose writings I follow eagerly. She provides deeper insight than the typical “stock market is down b/c investors are taking profits” from the Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal. I don’t believe she gets the credit she deserves and I hope she will get a government position when it is finally realized that those who have been part of the problem can’t be part of the solution.

The above interview dates from April 2009, but I really recommend it.

Her perspective on money is:

Money as a way to provide security and freedom. Freedom to do the things I enjoy and to provide opportunities to the people in my life that are important. There is nothing evil in money. It is the role of our government to ensure its value and that it is accepted everywhere for goods/services.

Here are a few quotes I noted from the interview:

When you create a lot of bad loans, and pass them off as if they are not bad, there is obviously fraud. It was not a mathematical error, it was not a black swan.

It’s a scandal that banks are raising fees on credit cardholders while we, the taxpayer are loaning money to them at extremely low rates.

We are being taxed without effective representation. People should borrow prudently, inform themselves, get on their local congressmen/senators.