Slowing the decline of the American empire

BY MARY-ELIZABETH HARMON
Founding Mother, Chard & Stripes

Ray Dalio has grown the largest and best performing hedge fund globally by deducing where the world is going and investing accordingly. So when he says China is rising and the U.S. is declining, folks listen.

And our decline could include a major “civil-war-type” conflict in the next five years, Dalio believes.

There’s a greater chance it won’t, but that could change if we Americans don’t.

“Most empires have their time in the sun and inevitably decline. …
Still, …the cycle can be extended…”

RAY DALIO

In 2017, Dalio published Principles: Life and Work, a distillation of “rules” he’s developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create success in business and life.

In his latest bestseller—Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail—Dalio extracts insights from major shifts in wealth and power over the last 500 years to offer practical advice for navigating what’s coming. He’s animated the juicy parts for us to watch:

While some bits of the video sat funny with me, it’s very much worth watching, which I did sped up.

Basically, it explains what drives the life cycle of empires, from birth to strength & maturity to decline. And though America’s world leader status is waning, the video ends on an upbeat note:

Just as we can get fit and extend human life, there are things we can do individually and collectively to keep the U.S. strong. Dalio boils them down to two things:

#1. Earn more than we spend.

#2. Treat each other well.

#2 should be easy but we’ve created a country—through our collective thinking—where toning down rhetoric / seeking common ground / promoting policies for the people can end careers, or at least invite misery into a person’s life.

But remember the good news I shared here:

One person under the influence of love is more powerful than legions fueled by fear.

Given the way America is devolving into chaos—and other countries too—it’s past time for us to demonstrate ways to lead with love, the most healing and harmonizing POWER there is.

Look for stories with the tag “Local + Love Leadership” for ideas.

To learn more about Dalio’s work, visit EconomicPrinciples.org and / or buy his book(s).

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Thanks.