Billionaire Ray Dalio warns of 'economic heart attack' as debt crisis escalates

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Billionaire Ray Dalio warns of 'economic heart attack' as debt crisis escalates originally appeared on TheStreet.
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio issued a dire warning on June 4 about the U.S. economy, stating that it is on the verge of suffering an "economic heart attack" due to unsustainable national debt. In a post on X and a summary of his new book, "How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle,"
He compared the debt system to a circulatory system that is clogged with waste. When debt service becomes an impediment to essential expenditures, and Chinese, Japanese, and even U.S. investors refuse to buy U.S. bonds, he warned, the government must either borrow again or print money—neither outcome is desirable.
In the case of the latter outcome, it leads to inflation and the debasement of the dollar. "This dynamic leads to a self-reinforcing debt, money-printing, and inflation spiral," Dalio wrote, while describing the current government trajectory as a textbook example of a country headed for fiscal collapse.Dalio also believes Bitcoin might get more traction in such a crisis.
He said, "Most countries have similar debt and deficit problems. The UK, EU, China, and Japan all do. That is why I expect a similar debt and currency devaluation adjustment process in most countries, which is why I expect non-government produced monies like gold and bitcoin to do relatively well."
Dalio explained that the U.S. is $30 trillion in debt, with debt service projected at $10 trillion in 2023—that is twice what the U.S. will receive in revenue from taxes in a year.
Dalio predicted that without immediate legislative intervention, the U.S. economy may face a crisis in three to five years. His resolution is a "3 percent deficit plan" involving a combination of spending reductions (tax cuts), some degree of higher taxation, and lower interest rates.
Echoing concerns about America's fiscal trajectory, Senator Cynthia Lummis put forward a radical alternative. Lummis has said multiple times that "The BITCOIN Act is the only way to solve our nation's $36T debt."
However, in a recent interview with Bloomberg Crypto, Lummis stated that a Bitcoin Reserve of one million BTC (almost 5% of the total), if held for twenty years, could, over time, erase half of the U.S. debt.
She said, "My purpose for a strategic Bitcoin reserve is to set it up, have a million Bitcoin, 5% of all Bitcoin, hold it for 20 years, and it will eliminate half of the US debt."
Interestingly, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has also recently proposed a Bitcoin bond, named BitBond, to address the U.S. debt crisis.
Billionaire Ray Dalio warns of 'economic heart attack' as debt crisis escalates first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 4, 2025
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.