One of the world\u2019s most prominent hedge fund billionaires has warned that rising inequality is turning the US into an autocratic state and condemned business leaders for failing to speak out against Donald Trump\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n
Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, said \u201cgaps in wealth\u201d and a collapse in trust were driving \u201cmore extreme\u201d policies in the US.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Financial Times<\/a>, the veteran financier said many western countries were affected by growing inequality, leading voters to turn increasingly to autocratic leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that what is happening now politically and socially is analogous to what happened around the world in the 1930-40 period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cClassically, increased wealth and value gaps lead to increased populism of the right and populism of the left and irreconcilable differences between them that can\u2019t be resolved through the democratic process.<\/p>\n \u201cSo democracies weaken and more autocratic leadership increases as a large percentage of the population wants government leaders to get control of the system to make things work well for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Concerns about a significant rise in borrowing by the US government were well founded, said Dalio, who has long predicted a reckoning for economies that allow debts to rise.<\/p>\n In his books, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order and How Countries Go Broke: the Big Cycle, he has described how large annual spending deficits and unsustainable debt growth had brought the US economy<\/a> to the brink of a debt crisis \u2013 a situation that had worsened over many years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe great excesses that are now projected as a result of the new budget will likely cause a debt-induced heart attack in the relatively near future,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d say three years, give or take a year or two.\u201d<\/p>\n He also expressed alarm at Trump\u2019s interference in the decisions of the central bank<\/a> and the buying of shares in corporations to further his \u201cMade in America\u201d programme.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n