Renowned billionaire investor Ray Dalio has sounded the alarm on the precarious U.S. fiscal situation, predicting a looming debt crisis in the country. Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, recently shared his concerns during a fireside chat at the Managed Funds Association.

“We’re going to have a debt crisis in this country,” Dalio stated during his interview with CNBC‘s Sara Eisen. He stressed the critical role of supply and demand dynamics in determining the speed at which this crisis unfolds. He noted he’s been closely monitoring the situation as it evolves.

The U.S. national debt recently crossed the alarming threshold of $33 trillion.

The increase in U.S. debt has been particularly pronounced in recent years, primarily driven by a substantial increase in federal spending between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2021, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Dalio’s concerns, however, go beyond the high levels of debt alone. He contemplates the possibility of economic growth stagnating to near-zero levels.

“I think you’re going to get a meaningful slowing of the economy,” Dalio said. He added, the U.S. is at the start of a “late, big cycle debt crisis.” 

This would constitute a concerning slowdown for the U.S. economy.

The billionaire investor warned there’s a shortage of buyers at a time when the US is selling so much debt, Business Insider reported.

“We’re going to have a debt crisis in this country,” Dalio said. “How fast it transpires, I think, is going to be a function of that supply-demand issue, so I’m watching that very closely.”

Dalio has often commented that the U.S. economy needs to be revamped, particularly its dependence on capitalism.

In April 2019, he published an essay on LinkedIn entitled “Why and How Capitalism Needs to Be Reformed,” urging leaders at the “top of the country” to realize the wealth and income gap is a national emergency.

Dalio warned, “…flaws in American capitalism have created destructive and self-reinforcing gaps in education, social mobility, assets and income — and the result could be another revolution.”

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