Nassim Taleb is my favorite epistemologist. I am a big fan of Black Swan and Fooled By Randomness. I should also say that he was a reader of this blog until he finally bailed. As you may know, he doesn’t listen to much of what he calls unnecessary “noise.” In fact he suggests you should ignore market blather and focus on thinking about making money.
He also is of the Austrian persuasion, so while I think my commentary is cutting edge, I probably am not telling him something he doesn’t already know. Well, maybe. I have taken exception to some of his prognostications, so I’m not a slavish follower.
In this interview on Bloomberg TV, he cuts no corners. He dislikes Geithner, Summers, anyone in the OMB, and Bernanke. He thinks the euro bailout is a disaster. He thinks the structural problems in the EU and the US haven’t changed since the crash. He thinks schools teach all the wrong stuff about economics and investing. He is worried about a failed treasury auction, here as well as abroad. He thinks the stock market is a trap, and long-term Treasurys should be avoided. He is worried about hyperinflation.
You know what? He sounds exactly like me. Maybe he did read something here. Funny thing is that he mentions in the interview that Geithner’s house is still on the market and that he is probably under water, and we shouldn’t have guys like that running things. I posted a “Daily Show” skit on Geithner’s house on The Daily Capitalist and Taleb wrote back telling me that he loved the skit and that his house is quite close by.
There’s some really good stuff here.
Hat tip to Tyler at Zero Hedge
that! is really good stuff.
Jeff,
You are truly producing great work. Having Taleb reading your blog is quite an endorsement for the value of your writings. Keep it up! It would be great to see some of your work in major national publications like WSJ, The Economist, Foreign Policy, etc.
Thanks, George. But he blew me off! Oh well.
For what it’s worth, you are still among my top five favorite economic bloggers. One of the others is Wenzel, but he sometimes goes into strange territory (when not talking economics).
Thanks. I knew you were capable of defending yourself, so I stayed out of it.
Great stuff, Jeff. I agree with Taleb’s assessment about the Three Stooges in Washington: Mo Bernanke, Larry Summers and Curly Geithner.