Ray Dalio on Austerity in the Big Debt Cycle
2026-01-27
If you want to understand everything you’re hearing about budget deficits and tariffs, you need to understand the big debt cycle.
But if you’d like more context on how all of these pieces come together, I recommend you watch my 45 minute-explainer “Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order” here:
#principles
Ray Dalio’s Message from Davos
2026-01-22
Here are my thoughts from this year’s World Economic Forum. If you’re interested in understanding more about how the world order is changing and what it all means, you can sign up for my newsletter at the link below:
https://economicprinciples.org/subscribe
Giving Tuesday
2025-12-02
This year, I’d encourage you to consider a unique kind of holiday gift — a donation your friends and family can give to the charity of their choice. This kind of gift is far more meaningful, and it’s simple. Anyone can do it.
If you’re interested, check out organizations like TisBest and @donorschooseorg .
I think gifts like these are more in keeping with what the holiday season is really about, so I wanted to pass it along. #redefinegifting #givingtuesday
What Happens When a Country Accumulates Too Much Debt?
2025-11-06
History shows us that having too much debt during an economic downturn leads to a classic, self-reinforcing cycle where:
1) The empire can no longer borrow the money to repay its debts
2) It prints a lot of new money, which devalues the currency and raises inflation
3) Living standards decline, leading to the rise of political extremism
4) Turbulent economic conditions undermine productivity and there is conflict about how to divide the shrinking resources
5) Populist leaders emerge pledging to take control and bring about order
How Ray Dalio Got Hooked on the Markets
2025-11-03
My first real job was caddying, and it changed my life.
It was the 1960s, and the people I was caddying for were always talking about the stock market.
So, I took my caddying money and bought Northeast Airlines because it was the only company I had heard of that was selling for less than $5 a share.
Little did I know, but the stock was so cheap because they were about to go broke. But I got lucky and they got acquired, so I tripled my money.
And just like that, I was hooked.
Ray Dalio & Andrew Ross Sorkin on His New Book “1929” and How Debt Drives Every Crash
2025-10-30
I sat down with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin to discuss his latest book, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History — and How It Shattered a Nation.
A lot of what Andrew learned researching this book is analogous to what happened during the 2008 financial crisis, and also to what is happening today. That’s because history moves in cycles — the same cause-effect relationships are at play, and there are important lessons to be learned.
While the details are different, the mechanics behind people’s behaviors and policy choices are largely the same.
Throughout history, people ignore these similarities because the mechanics are not well understood. My hope is that research and conversations like these can help us collectively make better choices in the future. Learn more about
Ray Dalio Explains Gold v. Fiat Currencies
2025-09-23
Gold is now the second largest reserve currency, behind the US dollar.
To understand why, you need to look at the history of fiat currencies (like the dollar) and hard currencies (like gold).
The way I see it, we’re currently facing a classic currency devaluation similar to what we saw in the 1970s or the 1930s. In both of those cases, fiat currencies around the world all went down together — and also went down in relationship to hard currencies, like gold.
If events today follow a similar pattern, that makes hard currencies an attractive asset to hold.
At least, that’s how it looks through my eyes. I’m curious to hear what you think.
You can watch the full conversation here: ?feature=shared
Be Generous and Expect Generosity from Others
2025-08-18
If you’re not generous with others and others aren’t generous with you, you won’t have a quality relationship.