Earlier today, Andy sat down with guest host Charles Payne to discuss the decline in manufacturing activity, the adjustments that need to be made in order for the fast-food industry to keep up with consumer trends, and the prospects of the American economy and job marketplace going forward.
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When asked about the manufacturing slowdown, Andy notes that the market is overreacting to the negative news and underreacting to the positive news, such as the latest figures which indicate growth for the 116th consecutive month in the overall economy. “It’s not like the world is coming to an end, things have slowed down a little bit with respect to manufacturing but they could be up again next month,” said Andy.
When discussing how the fast-food industry needs to keep up with consumer trends, Andy states, “There is a lot of competition from grocery stores, grocery store sales are up and people are eating at home, so that is something that people who are running restaurants need to keep in mind. Secondly, people need to adjust to the new economy… it used to be that if you ran a fast-food restaurant you had an advantage with a drive-thru… it was very convenient. The convenience elements are changing and the brands that pick up on that are going to be more successful than brands that don’t… the world is changing, and restaurants need to react just like other industries.”
According to a recent survey by ADP/Moody’s Analytics, companies added 271,000 new positions in December, 37,000 of which were in construction and 33,000 in the transportation sector, which Andy notes is a good sign for the economy across the board. “Transportation and construction are particularly relevant because if the economy is growing, that’s where you are going to see the jobs — you are going to see it in people building, and you’re going to see it in people delivering goods,” said Andy. “We’re seeing continued economic growth. I’d also point out that consumer spending was the best it has been since 2006 this last holiday season and consumer spending drives two-thirds of our GDP growth — the economy is doing very, very well. People are taking home more of what they earned because of the tax cuts… a good economy is not good news [for one political party], and that party controls a lot of the news media.”
Lastly, Charles and Andy talked about how President Trump has ultimately upset the status quo. “In the Trump Boom, in this Trump economy, it’s blue collar workers that are benefiting, it’s working-class Americans. In fact, for the first time in decades, it’s harder to find blue-collar employees than it is to find white-collar employees —we’re really seeing a change,” added Andy.
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