“ ‘The United States is at a tipping point in which it could go from manageable internal tension to revolution and/or civil war.’ ”
That’s Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, sounding the alarm in his latest LinkedIn post on the class and power struggles that are tearing the country apart.
“People and politicians are now at each other’s throats to a degree greater than at any time in my 71 years,” he wrote. “How the U.S. handles its disorder will have profound implications for Americans, others around the world, and most economies and markets.”
Dalio also used this chart to show how the U.S. is on the downside of its economic power, while China’s inflating its debt bubble:
“[America] is in this stage when there are bad financial conditions and intensifying conflict,” Dalio wrote. “Classically this stage comes after periods of great excesses in spending and debt and the widening of wealth and political gaps and before there are revolutions and civil wars.”
While the outcome isn’t inevitable, Dalio said that America, perhaps more than ever before, needs to take a hard look at its past.
“Now is an especially important time to know and watch the markers in order to understand the full range of possibilities for the period ahead,” he wrote. “The lessons and warnings of history are clear if one looks for them, most people don’t look for them because most people learn from their experiences and a single lifetime is too short to give them those lessons and warnings that they need.”
