(TheStreet) - Ray Dalio has ruled the roost on Wall Street as head of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, since 1985.
These days, however, Dalio is morphing into an international thought leader who reaches an audience of millions.
A case in point: In 2022, Dalio followed up his book “Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order” with an animated YouTube video that reached over 35 million people.
One year later, Dalio has released an abbreviated five-minute video on the same topic, hoping millions more will check it out.
He claims no direct political leanings with the release – at least not in the traditional sense.
“I am apolitical because I see myself like a doctor who wants to use my expertise to help those who are in the important jobs of governing do their jobs well,” Dalio said in a May 23 tweet. “At the same time, if I was forced to choose, I would be a strong bipartisan moderate because I believe that if we don't have a strong bipartisan middle, we will have some form of very damaging civil war between the extremists that those in the middle will get drawn into.”
“Right now, the most important battle to watch is not the one between Republicans and the Democrats - it is the one between the moderates and the extremists,” he noted. “I'm rooting for the moderates and would like to see the strongest and smartest ones be elected.”
In his condensed video, Dalio explains the history of global empires, including their reserve currencies, dating back to the Dutch, British, and U.S. empires, and binds those experiences together to explain China’s rise in today’s New World Order. Each period lasted 250 years with 10-20 years of transition to the new world empire,
Citing key “8 Strengths“, including education, technology and innovation, military strength, financial strength, competition in global markets, economic strength, trade, and the strength of the nation’s currency, Dalio establishes a barometer for global empires. “Combined, these strengths typically determine a country’s rise and decline, and how they typically evolve,” Dalio said.
As each of the “8 Strengths” is measurable, Dalio leverages them to track how robust each of the major countries is today – especially the U.S. and China.
Currently, the indicators point to yet another shift in leading global empires.
“For the first time in my life, the US is encountering a true rival power,” Dalio noted in his book. “China has become a rival power to the United States in most ways and is becoming strong in most ways at a faster rate. If trends continue, China will be stronger than the United States in the most important ways that an empire becomes dominant. Or at the very least, it will be a worthy competitor.”
By Brian O'Connell
May 24, 2023
