Dalio said that the current 'gaps in wealth', 'gaps in values' and a decline in trust were driving 'more extreme' policies.
'I am just describing the cause and effect relationships that are driving what is happening,' he said.
'And by the way, during such times most people are silent because they are afraid of retaliation if they criticise.'
electric_muse · 5h ago
Ray’s warnings are almost always easy to ignore. He has successfully predicted 10 of the last 2 recessions. His whole business is scaring people.
Nonetheless, he’s right on here.
What’s most unusual about witnessing this happen is just how much “trust in the systems” is intentionally being eroded. And trust in each other.
When you can’t trust each other or the systems, it creates an environment ripe for the strongman. The only real way to balance out the strongmen is mutual trust.
frogperson · 1h ago
I think alot of the lost trust is each other is because we lost our local villages. The internet expanded our worlds and now we dont know our neighbors like we once did.
SilverElfin · 5h ago
I saw him use the word ‘trust’ but I feel like what’s needed is mutual de escalation. Like a return to a more moderate agenda from all political sides, shedding the more extreme positions for something largely agreeable. Maybe a return to respecting basic constitutional rights and individual rights over “agendas”. Otherwise we risk inviting more extreme politicians from each side, with each one using their power more “fully” than the previous one, until SOMEONE becomes a real full fledged autocrat.
SOLAR_FIELDS · 4h ago
You know what solves this? A multi party political system where people have to compromise to form a functional government. This First Past the Post nonsense is really the root of the US current situation
dragonwriter · 3h ago
Note that people have to compromise in FPTP, too, the difference is that in a multiparty system compromises across the middle after an election are more normal, in FPTP, compromises within each of two sides, each seeking to carve out an electoral plurality and dependent on the most committed forces on their “side” of the middle, are functionally necessary.
(Also, on FPTP, alienating a voter from the opposing coalition from voting entirely is half as good as winning a vote, whereas alienating voters is much less effective in a multiparty system.)
pydry · 4h ago
"Middle of the road" politics will only become popular again if it stops being broken, corrupted and co-opted.
It doesnt seem to want to fix itself, either.
So, more extremism is inevitable.
Far right extremism will prevail though. As the plutocracy gradually gives up on "moderate liberal" politics it will throw its weight behind the far right.
frogperson · 58m ago
The extreme right cant hold power for ever, they might win some short term pyrrhic victories, but their policies just dont appeal to the majority.
The American public might seem slugish abd slow to act, but at some point they will 100% put a stop to all this non-sense. I believe this becuase americans are quiye possibly the most stubborn, loud, entitled, and armed group of people to ever exist. They simply wont stay down forever.
cyanydeez · 5h ago
The trust erosion is a snow ball. Poke around hacker news and you get tons of antigovernment talking points and very limited anti business when the reality is, in the USA, They're basically hand in glove and the stable force even when the political will switch's direction.
And you can easily see why skepticism for its own sake benefits those who seek to weild power
delichon · 5h ago
> And you can easily see why skepticism for its own sake benefits those who seek to weild power.
Apologies - I’m not sure how to generate those archive links people seem to share frequently. Here are a couple other news articles from across the spectrum, that discuss what Ray Dalio told the Financial Times:
If it's possible for an FT subscriber to share a gift link, I'd be interested in reading the full interview rather than a summary. I've been surprised that the business community hasn't pushed back against Trump and the economic chaos he's causing, and it's great to see someone with the stature of Dalio break ranks.
'I am just describing the cause and effect relationships that are driving what is happening,' he said.
'And by the way, during such times most people are silent because they are afraid of retaliation if they criticise.'
Nonetheless, he’s right on here.
What’s most unusual about witnessing this happen is just how much “trust in the systems” is intentionally being eroded. And trust in each other.
When you can’t trust each other or the systems, it creates an environment ripe for the strongman. The only real way to balance out the strongmen is mutual trust.
(Also, on FPTP, alienating a voter from the opposing coalition from voting entirely is half as good as winning a vote, whereas alienating voters is much less effective in a multiparty system.)
It doesnt seem to want to fix itself, either.
So, more extremism is inevitable.
Far right extremism will prevail though. As the plutocracy gradually gives up on "moderate liberal" politics it will throw its weight behind the far right.
The American public might seem slugish abd slow to act, but at some point they will 100% put a stop to all this non-sense. I believe this becuase americans are quiye possibly the most stubborn, loud, entitled, and armed group of people to ever exist. They simply wont stay down forever.
And you can easily see why skepticism for its own sake benefits those who seek to weild power
Less so than gullibility.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/sep/02/rising-ineq...
https://fortune.com/2025/09/02/ray-dalio-america-debt-induce...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-15057...
The archive link for this FT article: https://archive.ph/xUeJ8