What makes Taleb think the government is any more trustworthy than the banks, or that the banks are any less trustworthy? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government entities, Nassim, remember? And who would bear the burden of the government's risk-taking? The same people who already do: the taxpayers. I admire Taleb's contributions to epistemology. He should maybe bone up on political science.
yep. over here we all moaned and moaned about the nationalised industries, eg the railways. then they privatised them all, gradually. Now we moan even more. British Gas - shocking! Unbelievable. Railways - awful! you would not credit my daily hell, and how much they charge me for the privelege. etc. Nationalise the banks - well, this is kind of happening by default over here, but I am not happy about it, or any of it.
ReplyDeleteA wise priest who was a teacher of mine in high school and who had spent much time in Europe said to me once that the difference between Europe and America is that in Europe public property is regarded as everyone's property;in American it is regarded as no one's. I don't know whether the former still true of Europe, but the latter is still true of America.
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