CNBC spoke to Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein in Aspen. He dropped his recession-banana analogy for the interview.
Rubenstein said. “I don’t think it’s inevitable that there’ll be a recession. I do think it’s tough to avoid a recession, but it’s not inevitable,” he added.
Inside an organization as large as private equity giant Carlyle Group, he says there is no “common view on any one thing,” but he added “we don’t feel we’re going into a recession.”
He said deals were still getting done but at lower multiples of earnings (however fictional). Debt remains "readily available" (but much more expensive).
If Carlyle felt we were going into recession that would be a trade secret the PEU would use to dump assets. Rubenstein is the consummate salesman. That's why Congress kept private equity's preferred taxation for decades (deeply against public opinion).
The greed and leverage boys share one thing. They can't get enough money, ever.
Any student of history knows the next economic recession is inevitable. An esteemed author saying otherwise looks like pandering to nervous investors so his firm or family office can exit first.
