Gingrich bullish on America
The private brands industry is thriving. In the past year, several studies have reported on the growth of private brands, and those studies forecast even more future growth.
And if you believe Newt Gingrich, who says the U.S. is at the beginning of a long period of prosperity and growth, the private brands industry could have its best days ahead of it.
Gingrich, the speaker of the house from 1995 through 1999 and a 2012 presidential candidate, spoke at the Private Label Manufacturers Association’s (PLMA) Washington Conference on Tuesday in the nation’s capital.
"People have no idea of the scale of American wealth that is coming down the road,” Gingrich, a conservative Republican, told attendees. “There could be 30 or 40 years of growth … unless we really work hard to screw it up.”
Gingrich cited the country’s ongoing “sheer technological revolution” and the ability of companies like Amazon.com to take cost out of the system to grow and succeed.
“It’s not like anything I have ever seen,” Gingrich said. “And it’s just going to accelerate.”
Gingrich said he believes “we are very close to a turning point when we are going to start taking cost out of health care,” noting he thinks health care costs could be reduced by 40 percent. For instance, Gingrich said the health care industry is beginning to migrate away from kidney dialysis centers and to home-administered kidney dialysis, the latter which is 90 percent cheaper.
“[This] will be a revolution for the economy, and that will make us more competitive than we are now,” he added. “It will just be astonishing.”
However, there are distractions and even possible barriers to that growth, Gingrich stressed. The 75-year-old said America “is in the middle of a cultural civil war” that has created much hostility on both sides of the political spectrum.
“Nobody should assume there is some automatic solution to this,” he added. “And I think it’s going to go on for a long time until one side gets exhausted.”
He also cited immigration issues, saying that a system needs to be in place that is sustainable. Another challenge is the war on terrorism, which Gingrich expects to last another 100 years.
And then there’s President Donald Trump, who Gingrich said “does a lot of stuff that is self-destructive” and who has alienated many Americans with his behavior. But Gingrich says Trump is getting “a lot of stuff done” and commended him for the recent trade deal with Mexico and Canada.
Gingrich said he told Trump in a meeting between the two of them that "10 percent less Trump would be 100 percent more effective.”
Despite the country’s problems and challenges, Gingrich said he is an optimist. “I think this is the most astonishing and successful country in the world because we allow people to pursue happiness,” he said.
And Gingrich doubled down on his prediction that the U.S. is in a position to achieve long-term economic growth and prosperity.
“We’re about to have another cycle of innovation, and you’re going to see explosive things happening that will dramatically improve the quality of life,” he said.