WASHINGTON �� Billionaire Ray Dalio has called for a commission to explore the growing disparity between the wealthiest Americans and those in the bottom 40 percent of the economy, who he says face "rising death rates" and stagnant incomes.
"There should be a commission or an initiative" to address the issue, Dalio said in a CNN interview that will air on Sunday. Otherwise, he said, "the existing polarity" between the top 60 percent of the economy and the bottom 40 percent sets the stage for "a very serious social and political issue" during any future economic downturn.
Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, which manages about $160 billion in assets, compared the U.S. picture to that of Brazil, where a recession has exaggerated one of the world's widest gaps between rich and poor.
Already in the U.S., "the top one-tenth of 1 percent of the population's net worth is equal to the bottom 90 percent combined," and increasing automation threatens to widen the divide by eliminating jobs, Dalio said, according to a transcript provided by the network. "Technology in replacing people is an important force, and so if we go forward, you're going to create a two-tier economy."
Dalio, who's worth $14.6 billion according to figures compiled by Bloomberg, has increasingly been highlighting the social and political risks of growing economic inequality. In a post on LinkedIn in October, Dalio detailed how stark economic differences translate into lower savings, greater premature deaths and spotty health care for the bottom 40 percent of the economy.
"It is the issue of our time," he said in the CNN interview.
