Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio says America’s $35.327646622839 trillion national debt will continue to grow no matter who wins the race for the White House.
In a new interview with Bloomberg at the Milken Institute Asia Summit 2024, Dalio says the fast-approaching November election represents a crossroads for a number of critical issues including taxation and the reach of the federal government.
The billionaire believes the national debt is bound to be ignored while the government uses inflationary policies to reduce the real burden of its debt.
“We have an enormous amount of debt, and it’s going to keep increasing. And one man’s debts are another man’s liabilities… Nobody’s going to deal with the debt policy. That’s going to end up being monetized down the path.”
Regardless of the outcome, the billionaire sees the US heading towards a more “fragmented” existence, where portions of the country look to their state governments for leadership due to “irreconcilable differences” with their federal administration.
Dalio says he’s also focused on the candidates’ tax policies and the impact they may have on markets.
“Then the question is issues of taxation and those issues of taxation will have an important effect on the capital markets. They’re bought after tax returns, by and large. You lower corporate income tax, you raise income taxes, it makes a difference to prices. So we’re going to have those issues. A lot of issues to talk about regarding the election.”
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