Taleb, principal at Universa Investments and coiner of the "Black Swan" term to explain drastic, unpredictable events, said in a live interview that choking debt, continued high unemployment and a system that rewards bad behavior will hamstring an economic recovery.

"It is a matter of risk and responsibility, and I think the risks that were there before, these problems are still there," he said. "We still have a very high level of debt, we still have leadership that's literally incompetent ..."

"They did not see the problem, the don't look at the core of problem. There's an elephant in the room and they did not identify it."

Pointing his finger directly at Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and President Obama, Taleb said policymakers need to begin converting debt into equity but instead are continuing the programs that created the financial crisis.

"I don't think that structural changes have been addressed," he said. "It doesn't look like they're fully aware of the problem, or they're overlooking it because they don't want to take hard medicine."

With Bernanke's term running out, Taleb said Obama would be making a mistake by reappointing the Fed chairman.