Carlyle Group president Davivd Rubenstein, who is also president of the Economic Club of Washington D.C. , was at today's Economic Club luncheon that featured Ben Bernanke as the speaker.
I asked Rubenstein what his people were telling him were the weakest sectors of the economy now. He told me manufacturing is very weak and that housing is still very weak.
I asked him if he was still excited about infrastructure as an investment. He said, "Yes, but these are very long term projects that take years to get off the ground."
I asked him about the healthcare sector. He pointed out that Carlyle was already a very heavy investor in the sector. He told me that as baby boomers become older that health is going to grow as a portion of GDP. I responded by asking if it wasn't true that Obamacare by forcing the young into health insurance is really setting up a situation like Social Security where it eventually won't be able to support itself. He told me, "Benefits are going to have to be cut and taxes raised."
I asked him what he thought of the end the Fed movement. He said, "It's not going to be ended in our lifetime."
That's from the owner of MultiPlan, a huge preferred provider organization. Cutting benefits helps MultiPlan maintain its profit margins.
ReplyDeleteI hope Rubenstein's peers willingly step up to the plate regarding "taxes raised." They've been very uncooperative regarding carried interest.