Shared by JohnH

HatTip to Dave Lull

Nassim Taleb, author of “Black Swan,” said ballooning debt in the U.S. and the risk of asset bubbles in China make the Russian economy look comforting by comparison.

“When I look at the future, I feel comforted by a country like Russia,” Taleb said today in Moscow at a conference organized by Trioka Dialog. He said he feels “a little nervous about China, and very nervous about the United States.”

Russia has “resilience” after going through “several crises over the past hundred years,” whereas the U.S. “can’t sustain shocks,” said Taleb, whose 2007 best-seller argued that most people underestimate the frequency of rare events that have a major effect on markets.