C'mon guys. Don't be biased. Taleb is brilliant, and he literally created an entirely new paradigm in the world of investing. No one did what he does previously. His investment thesis is completely original and unorthodox, and would have been thought insane just 20 years ago.
If Taleb's a wanker, then what would you call the British banks that had to be scraped off the floor? Super Wankers?
Not about that. If his theories were given more respect, he wouldn't need to run a fund. It's the professional idiots that confuse a fat payday with running a legitimate business that are the problem. What we need are universal clawback rules. You blow up a publicly owned business, you give back the money you took out of it. No appeals. Draconian measures to offset the rampant greed these asswipes have exhibited.
It is a lot simpler just to acquire gold longterm. Keep slowly buying on "dips" over the years. And when things blow up, you unload at higher prices. This entire year, gold was very high historically. 10% of your holdings in gold is a very good amount. I fail to see his brilliance in this matter...
It takes all of 30 seconds looking at a chart of inflation-adjusted gold prices to see that's been a losing trade for 25 years running.
It wasn't obvious to the half of Wall Street & Connecticut that blew up this year, or the CEOs and retail investors who've just puked most of their stock holdings after the worst week for almost a century. Of all the times to diss Taleb, you pick now? Ask the population of Iceland, or Hank Paulson if there was a black swan recently.