Author and philosophical finance whiz Nassim Taleb began 2014 with a bold challenge to his fellow economic thinkers.
"I would love to debate a prominent economist LIVE in front of an audience… Nobody has accepted so far,"he wrote on his Facebook page a few days ago.
So who is up for the challenge?
"I think any economist who debated Taleb would want to use this," The Week's John Aziz quipped on Twitter, pointing to this 2010 interview where Taleb argues shorting treasuries is a "no brainer" due to the U.S. deficit and the risk of inflation.
"So long as you see the picture of Larry Summers going to Davos, you have to stay short U.S. Treasuries for another year. It means they (the Obama administration) don’t know what’s going on,” Taleb told MoneyNews' Dan Weil in 2010.
Taleb went off on Aziz and others, arguing that his actual profit and loss ("PL") wasn't indicative of his 2010 statement, which would have presumably lost money.
@azizonomics THis is very idiotic: you would want to see my PL from this.
— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) January 5, 2014@azizonomics Bullshit vendors/journalists don't realize that PL is not a frequency thing.
— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) January 5, 2014@stephen_knapp@azizonomics fucking idiot my prediction did not fail
— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) January 5, 2014@CounterHedge@azizonomics What John Aziz seems clueless about is nonlinear + cherry picking (1000 trades a year).
— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) January 5, 2014@Noahpinion UNlike bullshit vendors like Noah Smith, by #skininthegame I did OK on the trades. PL is not words
— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) January 5, 2014.@azizonomics@CounterHedge John I did 700,000 trades in career, was "wrong" on between 650,000 and 695,000. Wish I did more. Kapish?
— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) January 5, 2014SEE ALSO: 43 Brilliant Musings From Nassim Taleb's Facebook Page