China Is a Great Example of the Extremes in Infrastructure Investment
CNN's John Sutter says China and the U.S. are at extremes in infrastructure investing. The Chinese have dumped a huge amount of their capital into building roads, bridges, he says. He argues that our leaders don't even know the basics about what it takes to run a functioning society. "What if some of our political leaders read this book and actually looked at this list?"
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Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, has written several books on the world of investing and the economy in general based on his years of experience as manager of the world’s largest hedge fund. In the latest of his ‘Principles’ series, Dalio applies his quantitative approach of macro investing to analyzing countries, seeking to identify the factors that lead to strength such as education and work ethic, as well as lagging indicators such as a reserve currency that allow a country to spend beyond its means but ultimately presage a fall from dominance. Notably, Dalio sees China’s rise to the top of global power as likely, with America, while ahead, slowly declining. Tonight we debate the merits of his analysis, as well as the overall validity of a global macroeconomic approach that overlooks key factors such as demographics in forecasting long term power status.
