But Doubleline Capital Founder and CEO Jeffrey Gundlach told Yahoo Finance Wednesday that the debate is pointless, the inflation outlook is “darkening,” and Americans need to prepare for an economic downturn no matter what. “People are always asking me this question: ‘How bad is the recession going to be?’ It doesn’t matter. If it’s raining two inches an hour, you still need an umbrella,” the billionaire investor known as the “Bond King” said. On Wednesday, the bond market veteran added that rapidly increasing borrowing costs have the potential to cause increasing defaults in some U.S. companies as the economy slows this year. As Fortune previously reported, many so-called “zombie companies” have been able to survive off cheap debt over the past decade, using the junk bond market to fund unsustainable business models.
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