PICKING UP NICKELS IN FRONT OF A STEAMROLLER.
PICKING UP NICKELS IN FRONT OF A STEAMROLLER. Looking back (using the search feature for the blog), I see that my first post of many on Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book THE BLACK SWAN The Impact of the Highly Improbable, was not about the current financial crisis, but dealt with the probability of one lone genius writing Shakespeare’s works. I don’t seem, however, despite having come to use the metaphor frequently in conversation, to have posted on Taleb’s characterization of investors, like those who have been in the news, who make money by borrowing heavily to take advantage of small opportunities for gain while ignoring the small probability of enormous losses. He has a wistful chapter about how those investors are highly prized, even though he says what they do is like picking up nickels in front of a steamroller.