A Legendary Investor on How to Prevent America’s Coming ‘Heart Attack’
From Interesting Times by New York Times Opinion
May 7, 2026 · 51 min
About this episode
Ray Dalio discusses the patterns that may lead to the decline of the American empire.
A stalemated war. Fractured alliances. A rival waiting in the wings. It feels to me that we’re having an “end of the American empire” moment. My guest this week, Ray Dalio, is an unlikely prophet of doom — the billionaire Bridgewater investor conquered Wall Street by studying history and mastering global trends. He foresaw the 2008 financial crisis,and these days he’s warning that the U.S. is repeating the patterns that ended great empires of the past.
People in this episode
Host: Ross Douthat
Guest: Ray Dalio
Topics covered
- American empire
- financial crisis
- global trends
- investing
- history
- geopolitics
Keywords
- Ray Dalio
- American empire
- financial crisis
- investing
- global trends
- history
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Bridgewater, New York Times
Places: America
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