Nassim Taleb is the author of The Black Swan, a best seller, and one of my favorite books.
Taleb did a rare interview with the BBC on Friday.
Taleb comments that the banks know now as they have known for decades (citing 1982 as the first example) that they can take as much risk as they want because the Government will bail them out if they fail. Taleb calls this “socializing loses”. As an industry the banks have not suffered while there is record unemployment. He says that it is like the banks have taken over the Government. Monetary policy for the past ten years has been geared totally towards the banks. Taleb thinks we should have transformed debt into equity and not just printing money.
Nassim Taleb appears at about the 5 minute mark. Video below:
