- Maine Caucuses a Chance to Right the Romney Ship
- Greek Debt Saga Back on Center Stage for Markets
- China President-in-Waiting to Sample Slices of America
- Greek Cabinet Approves EU, IMF Bailout Bill
- MF Global Trustee Sees Shortfall of $1.6 Billion
- Iran to Announce 'Very Important' Nuclear Progress
- We're Not Greece: Italian Prime Minister Monti
- Private Homebuilders in the US: Dead Men Walking
- Dividend Payout Could Hit Record Amount This Year
MOST POPULAR
HOT ON FACEBOOK
Black Swan: Don't Change 'Mark To Market' Rules
Text Size 
Altering mark-to-market accounting rules would bring more opacity to the financial system, said Nassim Taleb, “The Black Swan” author.
“It’s exactly like how a thermometer makes a patient look more sick,” he said in a CNBC interview. “Eliminating the mark-to-market is exactly like putting your head in the sand.”
Rather than taxpayers propping up large banks, Taleb said, the hedge fund model should be followed.
“Some go bust, some do okay, some have problems,” he said. “We don’t care. It’s their problem. It’s not society’s problem.”
Fixing the financial crisis requires a financial system with less debt and less complex derivatives, he said. The solution is not to alter the current financial structure, said Taleb, but rather, to look for “robustness” in the system.
“Complexity causes fragility,” he said. “You’re no longer riding a horse—you’re flying a Concorde. A horse doesn’t explode but a Concorde can have a problem. We now have a Concorde in our hands.”
For More Economic Analysis on CNBC.com:
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
