- Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio tweeted on Sunday that the United States could fall into a “terrible” civil war if its political and economic challenges are not resolved.
- “Our country is still in a terrible and terribly divided financial situation,” he wrote.
- He called on Democrats and Republicans to work together to bridge the wealth gap, government debt and political partisanship.
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Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio said on Sunday that he believes the United States could turn into a “terrible civil war” if political, economic and social divisions are not addressed.
“I believe we are on the verge of a terrible civil war,” wrote the hedge fund billionaire in a series of posts on Twitter.
“We are at an inflection point between entering a kind of fighting hell or going back to work together for peace and prosperity,” he said. “Our country is still in a terrible and terribly divided financial situation.”
Dalio’s blunt assessment comes at a time when the United States faces enormous challenges, including the pandemic-induced economic crisis, income inequality, deep political divisions and huge government debt. It also comes weeks after a crowd of supporters of former President Donald Trump invaded the United States Capitol, fueled by unfounded allegations of electoral fraud in the presidential election. Five people died in the violence and dozens of protesters were arrested.
Read More: Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio warns that political and wealth gaps in the U.S. can lead to conflict – and even ‘a form of civil war’
Dalio praised newly inaugurated President Joe Biden, saying he was “thrilled to hear what President Biden said in his inauguration. It is consistent with the direction that history has shown the country needs to go.”
During his inaugural address, Biden called for unity among Americans and said that “democracy prevailed” after an unprecedented attempt to reverse the results of the presidential election and the takeover of the Capitol.
This was not the first time that Dalio warned that the United States could enter a kind of civil war if the political and wealth disparities were not resolved.
He has always warned that the lack of opportunity, income sharing and underinvestment in education can cause irreversible damage.
“I studied the past 500 years of history and cycles: large wealth gaps with large value gaps while there is a lot of debt and an economic recession produces conflict and vulnerability,” he told CNN’s Poppy Harlow in an interview. aired last month.
Dalio also compared the recent exodus of CEOs and business center companies like New York and San Francisco to Florida and Texas as a kind of “civil war”.
“We are seeing a form of civil war: people are leaving to go from one place to another, partly because of taxes, but also partly for other reasons,” he said in December. “The worst alternative is for one side or the other to say, ‘This is no longer my country. This is not my population.'”
On Sunday, Dalio said that both Democrats and Republicans need to bring about change.
“Good words and spirit are not enough,” he wrote. “People will have to agree on how to make the cake grow and how to divide it well. This will require revolutionary change.”