Rick Rule, a seasoned investor and the president and CEO of Rule Investment Media, warned that the recent downturn in the US dollar is far from over. He predicts that within the next decade, the US dollar will lose 75% of its "purchasing power," while gold prices could surge to $12,000 per ounce.
In a recent interview, he pointed out that the culprit is the US's massive and growing debt burden. The US government's on-balance-sheet debt is just "the tip of the iceberg," with even more staggering unfunded commitments totaling up to $100 trillion, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, federal pensions, and military pensions.
Although the officially reported total federal government debt of the US currently stands at $36.22 trillion, some experts estimate that unfunded liabilities exceed $70 trillion, bringing the total to over $100 trillion, nearly matching the total net worth of US households, which stands at $141 trillion. Even more alarming is that these two types of liabilities are growing at a rate of approximately $2 trillion per year.
Rule warned that repaying these debts will come at the expense of ordinary Americans.
In the interview, he explained, "We will have to allow the purchasing power of the dollar to decline so that we can service nominal debt without repaying actual debt.I believe that due to these $100 trillion in unfunded benefit liabilities, the US dollar will lose 75% of its purchasing power within 10 years."
As US President Trump's aggressive trade policies have eroded confidence in US assets and triggered a reassessment of the US dollar's dominance in global trade, the US dollar has weakened in 2025, with the ICE US dollar index falling more than 9% year-to-date. Rule is not the only Wall Street heavyweight predicting further declines in the US dollar.
Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital and known as the "new bond king," recently stated that he believes the US dollar will experience a long-term downtrend, and against this backdrop, international stock markets will continue to outperform the US stock market.
On the other hand, Rule expressed his optimism about gold. Gold prices have surged more than 40% over the past 12 months. However, Rule believes that considering how much real value the US dollar is expected to lose, this is just the beginning.
He said, "I believe that over the next 10 years, the appreciation of gold, at least nominally, will reflect the depreciation of the US dollar's purchasing power. I hold gold not because I hope it will rise to $3,500,I hold gold because I expect it to rise to $12,000." Given the current trajectory of gold prices, $12,000 represents a potential upside of approximately 250%.
Rule is not the only one who regards gold as a "key safe haven." Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, also views it as a key component of a resilient portfolio.
"People usually don't have enough gold in their portfolios. When a downturn comes, gold is a very effective diversification tool," he said earlier this year.
