Ray Dalio says Bessent move is sign that a debt crisis is getting closer; recommends gold and bitcoin

CNBC ^ | 08/21/26 | Alex Harring

[Fury]

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s debt buyback announcement this week fits into a broader pattern that can signal a forthcoming crisis, according to billionaire investor Ray Dalio.

The Bridgewater Associates founder said Bessent’s plan to increase government debt purchases may portend trouble for the U.S. economy.

---

TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government
KEYWORDS: economy

[KC_Conspirator]

Tokenize the debt...xrp

[volare737]

When the government interferes with,,,,,,,and tries to manipulate the markets, I don’t think it usually ends well—thinking of Nixon taking us off the gold standard. Also, driving interest rates to near zero, really inflated the housing market. Just a couple examples that immediately come to mind.

[ckilmer]

why does debt buy back this time portend trouble when all the previous many many debt buy backs did not portend trouble,

dalio imho may be talking his game.

[Freedom4US]

Everything will be fine, till it isn’t. Better a year or two early than a day or two late. As a practical matter at some point the government will find it difficult to service existing interest on the debt. Then things get “interesting”, and not in a good way.

[Raycpa]

Beware, the word may in the article turns this into an opinion piece, not a news piece.

[montag813]

Gold $10k, BTC $250k within a year?

[erlayman]

Did you read the article ? He is correct about the difficulty of finding spending cuts but there will be reform of entitlements in the next few years which will significantly lower the primary yearly deficits.

[nitzy]

The government should spend a few hundred millions dollars to commission a blue ribbon panel to conduct a study to find out why inflation is so high and the demand for U.S. bonds is so low.

[delta7]

and the demand for U.S. bonds is so low.
————
Fact: stated by a few of the world’s Central Banks, when Biden froze Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and weaponized the dollar, many countries think they will or can be next.

The Indian Finance Ministry stated it much more harsher terms two years ago. Since then sovereign nations have been dumping US debt notes ( Treasuries, bonds, etc)….guess what? They are right. That was the dumbest move Senile Joe ever made.

[Major Matt Mason]

+1

[ckilmer]

imho the real plan is to grow the economy at high rates so that the economy will throw off a lot more tax revenue.

something similar happened 1995-2000

[plain talk]

desperate scheme to reduce rates and reduce interest on the debt. nice try but the debt getting refinanced at higher rates is large.

[Gunslingr3]

why does debt buy back this time portend trouble when all the previous many many debt buy backs did not portend trouble

It's not a 'debt buy back' as in they're reducing outstanding debt. They're issuing short term debt to buy longer term debt in a (failing) bid to reduce rates.

Interest on the debt is now the 3rd biggest expense. In just a few years it will be the 2nd biggest expense behind Social Security.

[nitzy]

I don’t disagree that the Russian sanctions may have an impact. Especially for countries who think they might end up on our bad side soon (such as potential enemies of Israel).

However, I’ll bet the $40T debt and 20% of the annual budget being used to service that debt, has a little more impact on their decisions. They see this ship sinking and don’t want to be left holding the bag.

[Gunslingr3]

He is correct about the difficulty of finding spending cuts but there will be reform of entitlements in the next few years which will significantly lower the primary yearly deficits.

How do you know the 'reform' just doesn't turn into an agreement to borrow the payroll tax shortfall to cover the difference?

Politically, that's the easiest path forward, and thus in my view the most likely.

Doesn't mean it will turn out well:

"We can guarantee cash payments benefits as far out and whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power."

[Jim Noble]

“Gold $10K BTC $250K within a year?”

Except gold is still around when the power goes off.

[Revel]

The person with 2-3K in the bank is not going to be able to buy a lot of gold. So they will hurt a lot.

[TTFX]

gold is still around when the power goes off.

- - - - - - -

Diversifying lets you enjoy the advantages of different things.

[ChuckHam]

LOL. When the power goes off the only thing worth money is clean water, food, and lead.