How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle (Principles)
by Ray Dalio
View on GoodreadsCan the country that issues the world's reserve currency in effect default? Dalio treats that as a live question for the United States, because in his framework countries reach debt crises for the same recurring reasons. His measures are debt against income and debt service against what your government collects.
Core ideas
- The Big Debt Cycle: Over roughly 75 to 100 years, governments build up debt until it becomes unsustainable, and charts and equations lay out the mechanics.
- Five forces: Debt and money interact with internal politics, geopolitics between nations, acts of nature such as pandemics, and technology, especially AI.
- The 3% solution: His fix for US deficits combines spending cuts, tax increases and modestly lower interest rates, aimed at avoiding a crisis.
Published2025
Pages400
ISBN9781501124068
ReadJun 2025
