Taleb: “Obama’s Attempts to Fight the Financial Crisis with More Cash is like Treating a Bad Tooth with Novocain Instead of a Root Canal”
“In the quote of the day, Nassim Nicholas Taleb told CNBC: The Obama administration’s attempts to fight the financial crisis with more cash is like treating a bad tooth with Novocain instead of a root canal… Do not delay a root canal. Don’t do piecemeal solutions to a problem that is fundamental.
Taleb’s previous one-liners include:
What is fragile should break early while it is still small.
No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains.
People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus.
Do not let someone making an “incentive” bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks.
Counter-balance complexity with simplicity.
Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning .
Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to “restore confidence”.
Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains.” (Read more from www.washingtonblog.com)
Nobel Economist: Government’s Response is WORSE than Socialism
“Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says that the government’s response to the financial crisis is worse than socialism:
Some have called this ‘socialism with American characteristics’. But socialism is concerned about ordinary individuals. By contrast, the US has provided little help for the millions of its people who are losing their homes. Workers who lose their jobs receive only 39 weeks of limited unemployment benefits, and are then left on their own. And, when they lose their jobs, most also lose their health insurance.
America has expanded its corporate safety net in unprecedented ways, from commercial banks to investment banks, then to insurance, and now to cars, with no end in sight. In truth, this is not socialism, but an extension of long-standing corporate welfarism. The rich and powerful turn to the Government to help them whenever they can, while needy individuals get little social protection.” (Read more from www.washingtonblog.com)
YES WE CAN!