Nassim Taleb takes a Bloomberg interview on Occupy Wall Street into a discussion of mark to fantasy vs mark to market, and how the only thing bank earnings are good for is discovering bankster compensation and bonuses. Taleb believes Occupy Wall Street risks devolving into a Marxist mob unless the group focuses its anger on bankster compensation.
Bloomberg Host: What comes to mind when you hear me talking about earnings and revenue (for banks)
Taleb: You're wasting your time, everybody's time, talking about bank earnings. They're not a hedge fund, they don't mark to market, you don't know what's there. They don't mark their loans. European banks...Greece..it's irrelevant. The only information you get from bank earnings is compensation. The only valuable information you can get from it is how much they pay themselves!
If we bail you out, you should not be paid a bonus! Without us, Goldman Sachs would not be in existence! Without our loan to AIG (the taxpayers loan to AIG) they would not exist. So they are on artificial life support.
