Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a principal of Universa Investments, a distinguished professor of risk engineering at NYU, and the author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.

Blog Entries by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Good Bye! The Reappointment Of Bernanke Is Too Much To Bear

100 Comments | Posted November 30, 2009 | 06:24 PM (EST)


What I am seeing and hearing on the news -- the reappointment of Bernanke -- is too hard for me to bear. I cannot believe that we, in the 21st century, can accept living in such a society. I am not blaming Bernanke (he doesn't even know he doesn't understand...

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The IMF and Our Increased Dependence on Faux-Experts

15 Comments | Posted November 5, 2009 | 04:23 PM (EST)


I was in Korea last week with a collection of suit-wearing hotshots. On a panel sat Takatoshi Kato, IMF Deputy Managing Director. Before the discussion he gave us a powerpoint lecture showing the IMF projections for 2010, 2011, ..., 2014. I could not control myself and got into a state...

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My Letter Addressing the Guardian's Distortions

38 Comments | Posted August 27, 2009 | 05:14 PM (EST)


I used to think that the US press was guilty of distortions. Recent events changed my mind, as UK anti-Cameron papers tried to cut and paste from my talk to weaken him by trying to demonize me. The problem is that they got my ideas backwards on every single point....

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Goldman Sachs Counts on Society's Implicit Stop-Loss Order

Posted April 20, 2009 | 06:38 PM (EST)


Goldman Sachs executives have decided to return the TARP money the company received, thinking they can be free and engage in their own risk-taking without involving taxpayers. Hence, they can pay themselves bonuses galore with their "private" money. Given the fungibility of funds and taxpayer support, this is a masquerade....

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