Perhaps he says more in Black Swan—but I don’t see the quoted text as describing anything as risk free.
Treasury bills—as safe a class of instruments as you can manage to find on this planet
Is pretty much true. Its the single safest instrument that bears interest. Now I would not follow the rest of his advice, for reasons you mention I think it would be safer to hold some other notes as well some precious metals (which aren’t interest bearing but at least float with inflation).
The other factor here that you don’t touch on is that a lot of people believe that a US Treasury default would be pretty much the end of our currency and economy; notes issued by Swiss banks couldn’t be expected to hold up since everyone indebted to them has some exposure to US assets or to someone else who does. I don’t know if this is true but I’m quite sure many people believe it.
Perhaps he says more in Black Swan—but I don’t see the quoted text as describing anything as risk free.
Is pretty much true. Its the single safest instrument that bears interest. Now I would not follow the rest of his advice, for reasons you mention I think it would be safer to hold some other notes as well some precious metals (which aren’t interest bearing but at least float with inflation).
The other factor here that you don’t touch on is that a lot of people believe that a US Treasury default would be pretty much the end of our currency and economy; notes issued by Swiss banks couldn’t be expected to hold up since everyone indebted to them has some exposure to US assets or to someone else who does. I don’t know if this is true but I’m quite sure many people believe it.