Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller said the federal government has been spending recklessly and failed to issue debt at low rates in past years, mistakes that will ultimately lead to some tough choices in the future.
“We are spending like drunken sailors,” Druckenmiller said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday. “Don’t forget pre-Covid … the federal government was 20% of GDP in spending. Now it’s 25% of GDP … My father told me if you’re in a hole, stop digging Stan.”
The legendary investor, who now runs Duquesne Family Office, said he was disappointed to find out that the White House is seeking another $56 billion in emergency spending for disaster relief and childcare programs, in addition to the $106 billion the administration wants for Israel and Ukraine.
The federal government wound up its fiscal year in September with a deficit just shy of $1.7 trillion, up about $320 billion, or 23.2%, from fiscal 2022. The budget shortfall adds to the staggering U.S. debt total, which stood at nearly $34 trillion.
Druckenmiller said government entitlement programs, which make up almost half of the federal budget, should be pared down.
“I want to go after entitlements. It’s where the money is,” he said. “The constant assertions by both parties, and I kind of blame Trump and Hillary for taking off the table that we’re not going to cut entitlements. It’s a lie. It’s not going to happen. Because interest expense alone is going to wipe out everything but entitlements so the entitlements aren’t going to get cut.”
The widely followed investor believes that the market will be “very challenged” in the current environment, and only disciplined stock pickers would be rewarded.
Druckenmiller once managed George Soros’ Quantum Fund and shot to fame after helping make a $10 billion bet against the British pound in 1992. He later oversaw $12 billion as president of Duquesne Capital Management before closing his firm in 2010.