In 2009, Bain Capital managing director Stephen Pagliuca imitated former colleague Mitt Romney and ran for public office in Massachusetts, failing in a bid to take Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat. Would he run again?
"I don't think I would," Pagliuca said Friday at the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst Conference in New York. "I think it's very difficult to jump out of business in general and run for office unless you prepared for it your whole life. ... You have to defend everything you did."
The co-owner of the NBA's Boston Celtics said he learned a lot about government "from the inside" during his short bid but is happy at $70 billion Bain.
Pagliuca, however, slammed current lawmakers over their inability to set a long term fiscal plan.
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"I don't think this policy of having this cliff happen every few years or few months is a great thing for the economy," said Pagliuca. "The private equity business in general is looking for 'What's the road map? What's the game plan?'"
Pagliuca said Washington should develop a seven- to 10-year plan and stick to it.
"We just can't sustain this level of national debt," Pagluica said, echoing one of Romney's central 2012 presidential campaign themes.
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"I don't think you do it overnight, because you don't want to kill the economy, but there's got to be a long-term plan," added Pagliuca.
Despite the broader fiscal challenges, Pagliuca said the U.S. economy was "robust" and a "good market to invest in."
He said there are still "some great deals" even if GDP is likely to grow by only 2 or 3 percent.
—By CNBC's Lawrence Delevingne. Follow him on Twitter @ldelevingne.
