Nassim Taleb says Covid-19 pademic is not a "black swan"March 31, 2020 - 13:54 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Nassim Taleb, the former options trader who predicted the 2008 financial crisis in his bestseller "The Black Swan", has described the coronavirus pandemic as a "white swan". In an interview Monday, March 30 on Bloomberg Television, Taleb criticized the $2 trillion economic relief package signed into law in the United States as a bailout for investors and for companies that drained cash or levered up to buy back stock. What irks Taleb most of all is the suggestion that the virus pandemic is a "black swan" event, a statistical outlier so rare no one could have predicted or prevented it. His 2007 book of the same name flagged globalisation as reason enough to anticipate a "very strange acute virus spreading throughout the planet." "We've had black swans -- September 11 [2001] was definitely a black swan," he said. "This was a white swan." Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Armenia to participate in key EU meeting for the first time ever National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has said that Armenia will for the first time participate in the Conference. U.S. reacts to Russia’s criticism of upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting Matthew Miller has weighed in on Russia’s criticism of an upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting. Lavrov sees ‘collapse’ of Russia’s ties with Armenia Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has underscored heightened tensions between Russia and Armenia. Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. |