‘Black Swan’ author Nassim Taleb, who correctly called the 2008 financial crisis, says the U.S. is in a ‘death spiral’ over government debt
It’s been dubbed the “most predictable crisis” facing the U.S. economy, but an expert has warned it will take a “miracle” to save America from its national debt problem.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author of best-selling book The Black Swan, correctly predicted the 2008 financial crash but said “gloomy” times ahead for the U.S. economy are far more easy to spot.
“So long as you have Congress keep extending the debt limit and doing deals because they’re afraid of the consequences of doing the right thing, that’s the political structure of the political system, eventually you’re going to have a debt spiral,” he explained, per Bloomberg. “And a debt spiral is like a death spiral.”
Currently the American national debt stands at $34.14 trillion—about $100,000 for every person in the U.S.—with the debt ceiling currently suspended until 2025 courtesy of a deal passed in the summer of 2023.
And although some of the shorter-term economic signals are flashing green—inflation is coming down, the Fed may by eyeing rate cuts, and employment is staying stable—Taleb and big Wall Street names like Jamie Dimon are sounding the alarm.
Learned a lot from his books, for example perverse incentives.. I’ve always had to pay for my mistakes, but they never seem to.
h/t Uppity Me