I have been a fan of Nassim Taleb since I read “Fooled by Randomness”. I remember stumbling in it the bookstore at Columbia University in New York. I quickly grabbed his most noted book, “The Black Swan” which continued his philosophy of human behavior and our poor understanding of risk and statistics. His warning of the fragility of our financial system was prescient.

On MSNBC (read and view the interview here) Taleb recommended that the banks convert mortgage loans to partial equity in an effort to drastically deleverage the economy, which he sees as our main problem and very little is being done to address.

I thought it was a great idea. It helps the homeowner get a fresh start. The most debt is not in the Wall Street firms but in mortgage debt to the consumers. Instead of bailing out failing organizations we could reduce crippling bank debt and help consumers at the same time.

Taleb is a great intellect with an uncommon depth on the subject. He may be a bit of a hard read for some and many consider him too far out of mainstream to be credible, but look where mainstream thinking got us. I found him insightful and claryfing.

If you are not inclined to read such material for fun, check out his many interviews on YouTube.

Tips to Douglass Ott.

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