Carlyle’s Rubenstein Concerned About Economic Growth Rate

The Carlyle Group's co-founder and co-CEO, David Rubenstein talked about the economy, income inequality, and philanthropy at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Rubenstein said the U.S. has the worst income inequality since 1930, with wealthy people getting richer and poor people not advancing. 'Income inequality is an important concern of the business community, and should be an important concern,' said Rubenstein. 'If people at the bottom of the pie don't feel they can rise, that's a problem. In my case, I thought that I could always rise up by working hard and so forth, but many people now don't feel that's the case.' Income inequality was one of the themes explored during the Aspen Ideas Festival. Rubenstein said income inequality should be one of the issues discussed in the presidential campaign, along with how to increase economic growth and create 'the kind of jobs that people want to have.' He also said the candidates should be talking about how to keep the U.S. competitive against countries like China. Rubenstein spoke with TheStreet’s Rhonda Schaffler in Aspen, Colorado.