Ray Dalio is someone I read with interest. Not only the manager of the world’s largest hedge fund, he has been very successful at articulating the fundamentals of the economy. This is an interview in the Economist. What you need to read is not the PR stuff, but his analysis. In general, I agree with his thoughts on deleveraging. He calls the deleveraging in the US “beautiful.” I think it is a little early to make that call. Like the guy who jumped off the Empire State Building said as he went past the 51st floor, “So far, so good.” Let’s see how beautiful the landing is. It could happen. But I think it’s too soon to tell. Quote: “‘The most beautiful deleveraging yet seen’ is how Ray Dalio describes what is now going on in America’s economy. As America has gone through the necessary process of reducing its debt-to-income ratio since the financial crash of 2008, he reckons its policymakers have done well in mixing painful stuff like debt restructuring with injections of cash to keep demand growing. Europe’s deleveraging, by contrast, is ‘ugly.’”