, the founder of Fisher Investments stressed that the cost of the borrowings – relative to the size of the economy and the country's ability to afford the obligations – is what really matters, and not the overall level of debt itself. Currently, that metric is at moderate levels similar to those seen in 1980 or even as far back as 1950, he added.
"From 1989 to 2000, we were much higher than we are now," he said, referring to the carrying cost of US government debt."If we could carry it then, we can carry it now." The manner in which the US avoided a payment default on its borrowings last month attracted prominent critics from all sides. Among the most vocal was Bridgewater Associates founder Dalio, who rated the debt-ceiling deal Grade D and predicted the start of a debt crisis, caused by a demand-supply mismatch.
"In my opinion, we are at the beginning of a very classic late, big cycle debt crisis, when the supply-demand gap, when you are producing too much debt and have a shortage of buyers,"But Fisher urges the public to perceive the debt situation differently, saying it's important to monitor the eventual allocation of the borrowed funds into parts of the economy.
"In terms of it being some catastrophic thing, the debt, to our society, today it isn't it isn't gonna be anytime soon – and what you should really focus on is the spending, not the debt."