Mark Spitznagel, co-founder and CIO of the private hedge fund Universa Investments, is known for making juicy returns for wealthy investors with his patented tail-risk hedging strategy, a form of market “insurance” that pays handsomely during times of economic and market turmoil. But when it comes to his generation’s debt obsession, Spitznagel sounds more like a social activist than a hard-nosed money manager.
For years, the 53-year-old has warned that the national debt—which recently surged over $34.5 trillion—is unsustainable. He argues that, when that rising debt combines with decades of loose monetary policy that lifted asset prices ever higher, growing piles of consumer debt, and businesses’ penchant for leaning on credit during times of stress, it creates a “tinderbox economy” that could go up in flames in a moment’s notice. It’s the “greatest credit bubble in human history,” Spitznagel told Fortune last…
