Robinhood CEO is revealing his outlook on the US economy moving forward, noting several bearish indicators, but also bullish signals developing.
In a new interview on the Iced Coffee Hour YouTube Channel, Tenev says that the US economy must deal with several issues, including a lack of demand for Treasuries, money printing, and what he refers to as a chronic tendency to “borrow from future generations.”
-->“I think there’s a cloud of uncertainties with these things always. So I think you have to counterbalance the sort of bearish indicators, which are: productivity growth historically has been pretty low in the US, and nobody has really been able to figure out why. I think outsourcing of the industrial base has been a big contributor to that. You have us printing money, and in a way, that’s us borrowing from future generations to fund our spending now, which I think is a problem. Countries that have typically been big buyers of Treasuries have kind of gotten out of that market, China probably being the best example there.
And you know, there’s seeds of geopolitical conflict or outright war brewing, and those are kind of the bearish indicators.”
On the other hand, Tenev says he’s optimistic on how the US appears to be gaining a foothold in certain technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency, which could help the country reconfigure its fiscal situation.
“But there’s some bullish indicators that make me feel very optimistic. I think technology-wise, we’re in probably the most interesting time ever. Technology keeps marching forward, you have AI that has the potential to solve some of these issues, including productivity and the borrowing from the future through massive GDP growth. If AGI or ASI is unlocked, and it looks like the US is leading, in particular Silicon Valley, which makes me feel really good. You’ve got cryptocurrency – again, which the US very much in some ways… is leading, and we’re looking to onshore some of the innovation that’s gone offshore in the last few years. I think you have some things we’re proud to be a part of, which are ways to reverse the borrowing from the future to fund the present, and instead, use the present to fund the future.”
