Billionaire Ray Dalio slams capitalism — despite making $2b last year

Ray Dalio — a man who made a staggering $5.5 million every day in 2018 — says “capitalism isn’t working well for most Americans”.

A billionaire who made headlines recently after slamming the “income/wealth/opportunity gap” has been labelled a “hypocrite” after his mind-blowing 2018 pay packet was revealed.

In a lengthy LinkedIn post last month, US hedge-fund manager and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio argued capitalism needed to be “reformed” because it was “not working well for the majority of Americans”.

According to Mr Dalio, the system is “producing self-reinforcing spirals up for the haves and down for the have-nots”, and the “widening income/wealth/opportunity gaps” now pose “existential threats to the United States”.

In other words, he believes a “revolution” is coming — however, it seems he might be part of the problem.

Ray Dalio is the proud owner of a 56m yacht. Picture: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

According to Institutional Investor’s annual Rich List, he made $US2 billion ($A2.83 billion) in 2018 — the equivalent of $US5.5 ($A7.8) million each day, “or $US228,310 per hour if he worked 24/7”.

Forbes reports the 69-year-old has a net worth of $US18.4 billion ($A26 billion) — and many have pointed out capitalism seems to be working for him at least.

Mr Dalio’s whopping 2018 earnings have been widely reported in the US, and social media users were quick to point out the “hypocrisy” of his stance.

Many argued if he was truly concerned about inequality, he would donate the bulk of his fortune to worthy causes.

He lives by the Golden Rule... He with the gold makes the rules 🤡

— Bitcoin Baller (@Hartwelljetski) April 30, 2019

Can't make this stuff up! It's insane!

— MatthewJshow (@MatthewJshow) April 30, 2019

Hypocrisy in a Principle @IngrahamAngle

— Walter Crosby (@wcrosby248) April 30, 2019

According to Vanity Fair, the father of four isn’t afraid to splurge and is the proud owner of a 56m yacht — however, he also suggests it’s time to treat the “wealth and income gap as a national emergency”.

To his credit, Mr Dalio is a renowned philanthropist and has signed up to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, promising to give away half of his wealth to charity.

He has also donated millions to causes supporting education, health and the environment.

But Mr Dalio isn’t the first fat cat to slam wealth equality recently.

This year, Disney heiress Abigail Disney has repeatedly spoken out about outrageous CEO pay, famously telling CNBC’s Squawk Box program: “If your CEO salary is at 700, 600, 500 times your median workers’ pay, there is nobody on earth, Jesus Christ himself isn’t worth 500 times his median workers’ pay,” she said.

Ms Disney, who is personally worth half a billion dollars, later slammed Disney CEO Bob Iger’s own 80 per cent raise in 2018, which totalled $US65.6 million.

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