How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle

“Do big government debts threaten our collective well-being? Are there limits to debt growth? Can a big, important reserve currency country like the United States really go broke–and what would that look like? For decades, politicians, policymakers, and investors have debated these questions, but the answers have eluded them. In this … book, Ray Dalio, … who anticipated the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2010-12 European debt crisis, shares for the first time his detailed explanation of what he calls the ‘Big Debt Cycle.’ Understanding this cycle is critical for helping policymakers, investors, and the general public grasp where we are and where we are headed with the debt issue. … [This book] also shows how these debt problems are related to the other forces–political within countries, geopolitical between countries, natural (droughts, floods, and pandemics), and technological (most importantly, AI)–that together are causing what Dalio calls the ‘Overall Big Cycle’ changes in the world order”–