Mark Gongloff, Columnist

Lack of Planning on Your Part Does Not Constitute a Black Swan

GameStop, Texas’ deep freeze and the Covid pandemic all could have been predicted.

February 19, 2021 at 9:41 PM UTC

Mark Gongloff is a Bloomberg Opinion editor and columnist covering climate change. He previously worked for Fortune.com, the Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Getting a bad rap.
Photographer: DAVID GILES/AFP/Getty Images

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Nassim Taleb did himself and the rest of the world a big favor when he popularized the term “black swan” back in 2007, just before all the money caught on fire. Taleb became a renowned seer, and the rest of us had a convenient shorthand for when things went bananas. All the money is on fire? That’s a black swan, baby. Donald Trump is president? Black swan time. Lady Gaga wears a meat dress? Black swan again.