Nassim Talib: Ron Paul, The Only Candidate Addressing Structural Issues

Nassim Taleb, the best-selling author of The Black Swan, endorsed the presidential aspirations of Ron Paul. "From the risk vantage point, Paul is the only candidate that represents my values," he told CNBC earlier today. "There are four key issues that no one else is addressing," said NYU Politechnic Institute and Oxford University professor, the first three of which he identified as the deficit, the Fed, and US militarism. "Then there is the notion that America is about resilience. You do not achieve that through bailouts," he told CNBC. "I want a system that gets better after every shock. A system that relies on bailouts is not such a system," he said, noting that Ron Paul is the only candidate willing to take the risk to talk about the hot button issues. "He is doing the equivalent of chemotherapy on the fundamental issues," said Taleb. "It may hurt, but that is the only choice you have. You cannot advocate for novocaine when in fact you need a root canal." Noting that he trusted neither Democrats or Republicans with the deficit, he pointed that it did not matter to him whether Ron Paul did or did not have any real shot at the presidency. "The fact that he is attracting the youth, which four years ago overwhelmingly voted Obama into office says a lot about the discourse Ron Paul has opened into this country. It is in complete contrast from the clear lack of personal risk taken by the other candidates." Taleb noted, tendering his unequivocal support for Ron Paul's candidacy. Taleb reinforced his opposition to current monetary policy saying he owned stocks as a mean to protect himself against inflation, as he did not have any faith in treasuries. "I hold Euros as well, because Europe already knows its issues. Whereas here, we have yet to recognize them." he reinforced his thesis. Prior to becoming a full-time author, Taleb founded and ran Empirica Capital.