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I never said he hyped his fund, he is hyping his image. So I am raising questions about that. He doesn't have to answer, but equally he is quick to hype himself. As for fund investors, for anyone looking to invest it is a red flag, so I hope his fund investors do due diligence, and they...

But he is doing PR and mentions the fund, so these are fair questions. Bernie Madoff depended on this type of word-of-mouth buzz to attract funds. I am not comparing him with Madoff except for the hype. While Taleb has no obligation to provide the general public with spin, he seems to...

So he claims, but what does that have to do with the returns? But as I say, he lets representations and rumors of wealth bleed into the market, so it seems he may care very much about the appearance of great wealth, but middle class may have been the reality. My point is that the...

My point is that there is no evidence either way, but in my experience, fund managers don't get bored with funds that are performing well. It is a fair question to ask if it slowly bled and what sort of return investors ultimately received. It seems the link is no longer applicable, but the...

I don't know about that, but I do know that his stint at Paloma Partners is not mentioned on his Wikipedia hagiography. As I mentioned it is after his claim of 1987 riches, so it is odd that he would take a stint as a trader at Paloma, and then clearly did not like being sidelined to research...

Excuse me? You owe me an apology. These are facts. I am entitled to doubt the veracity of his claims of wealth, since I have heard directly from people who worked with him that puts doubt on his assertions. Reportedly means he told a reporter... As I mentioned before, I read the interview...

Like the 1987 self-reported success, this is the same. Taleb feeds the press and they eat it up, but the facts up to then did not suggest he did. Sure a lot of people bought OOM puts and Paulos, Tavakoli, and Melcher (at Balestra) shorted the ABX, but they can prove their returns, where's...

Not even close. Like I say, when his B.S. about having created riches doesn't fly, the fall back position is that he's some thinker above the fray. Yet, he changes his public dialogue to suit the moment, and it seems all in the interest of self-promotion, not from any clean motive. A legend...

What's your basis for saying that other than the Fortune article where he fed them the information. In the case of the interview I read, Taleb fed that information, too, and it was ludicrous.

Plenty of doubt, since he's the one that feeds the press the information. Subsequent to that, he was a failed trader and Paloma people say he didn't like being shoved to research. In my experience people who don't need the money don't put up with it. They also say the 1987 story is...

Not true. I read the book. But others did warn in a specific way. Paulos, Tavakoli, Grantham. Not Taleb. As this unfolded he was first quoted calling it a black swan. When that didn't fly, he called it a grey swan, then switched to white swan admittiing that others saw it, albeit he did...

I seriously doubt he made 50 million in '87. Hence the Paloma episode.

I'd like to see a credible audit report. As for Taleb, I'd like to see the proof of earnings. To date, he seems to perpetuate a myth of his earnings. Hope he made some serious cash, but he may have given a lot back in the upturn. He lacks credibility, so he'll have to prove he did as well as...

He was an advisor to that fund, but are the billions self-reported? There seems to be a myth about Taleb, but most of it seems self-perpetuated. If he made millions in 1987, then why was he toiling as a trader at Paloma where he bombed and tolerated being shoved to research? What about...

LOL. CNBC Video. At 4:50 min Janet Tavakoli talks about Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. At 7:25 she says the varsity players got their grades before they took the stress test. She said the banks' problem is that the capital markets demand for securitized products won't unfreeze until we...

NOT.

Earlier he said he wished he had done the puts at lower market levels. At the meeting he said he modified two contracts in the previous week. Shortened the maturity to 10 years and lowered the strikes from 1514 to 994 (reduced from 18 years) for no cost.

Respectfully disagree. I believe this review from the late Greg Newton on Seeking Alpha is on the mark: http://seekingalpha.com/article/113943-no-mere-buffett-a-14-course-menu NO MERE BUFFETT, A 14-COURSE MENU Dear Mr. Buffett What an Investor Learns 1269 Miles from Wall Street by Janet...

At the Annual Meeting, Buffett said that everyone thought that housing prices would always go up, implying that was the reason for all of the bad lending. But Tavakoli says it isn't that benign.

Ghostdog, I agree with you. That applies in spades to the I-banks, AIG, Citigroup. That is why I object to using public money to support the debtholders of these institutions. Depositors of FDIC insurance would get their money, the government could have temporarily backed loans until the...