amsterdam<u+2014>president-elect donald trump may add trillions of dollars to the u.s. debt to fund infrastructure projects, boost economic growth and create jobs, carlyle group lp co-founder david rubenstein said<u+00a0>wednesday. mr. rubenstein, a billionaire private-equity investor who previously worked for president jimmy carter<u+2019>s administration, said mr. trump is also likely to cut taxes . the combination of increased government spending and tax reductions will result in increased borrowing, he said. <u+201c>right now in washington nobody cares about the debt,<u+201d> mr. rubenstein said at the superinvestor private equity conference in amsterdam. <u+201c>we have $20 trillion of debt and people say, <u+2018>ok, $20 trillion, $22 trillion, $23 trillion<u+2014>what difference does a couple of trillion make?<u+2019><u+201d> mr. rubenstein said he didn<u+2019>t share concerns voiced by many since the election that mr. trump<u+2019>s economic policies could fuel inflation. he pointed out that the inflation rate has remained near historic lows for years. unemployment is more of a problem as populist pressures increase, he said. weak average incomes and anxiety about jobs were among factors that fueled mr. trump<u+2019>s surprise election victory on nov. 8, he said. <u+201c>right now people probably fear more unemployment than they fear inflation,<u+201d> mr. rubenstein said. spending on infrastructure is popular among republican and democrat politicians in washington who see it as a way to address pressing economic and social problems, he said. <u+201c>the theory behind infrastructure investing is that it has two benefits. one, it employs people and two, it makes society more efficient, because you have better cellphone connections or better highways and everyone can operate more efficiently,<u+201d> mr. rubenstein said. industrial companies will probably benefit from more spending on infrastructure, mr. rubenstein said. energy producers, financial companies, health care companies and the defense industry may also gain from mr. trump<u+2019>s presidency, he said. mr. rubenstein founded carlyle in 1987 with william conway and daniel d<u+2019>aniello. the firm manages $169 billion. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t expect there will be a lot of constraints on private equity going forward,<u+201d> mr. rubenstein said. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t think it<u+2019>s going to be adversely affected by president trump or his administration.<u+201d> mr. rubenstein compared the economic policies he expects mr. trump to use to those deployed by ronald reagan, who also cut taxes to stimulate economic growth after becoming president in 1981. <u+201c>two types of stimulus will occur, which is increased spending and tax cuts. and those stimuli will no doubt increase the deficit,<u+201d> mr. rubenstein said. <u+201c>whether or not the increase in economic activity that is supposed to come about will produce enough tax revenues to make up for the debt, time will tell. it didn<u+2019>t really happen in the reagan administration.<u+201d> write to simon clark at simon.clark@wsj.com
trump may add trillions to u.s. debt, carlyle<u+2019>s rubenstein says  - wsj
simon clark