Silver Lake’s Hutchins Sees Tech Outpacing GDP

Laying out his macro-economic outlook for a sluggish growth in U.S. Gross Domestic Product of 2 percent for the next several years, Hutchins said the technology sector offers faster growth.

He pointed out that Apple Inc. launched the iPad during a weak economy, but the product still took off. “You have to take share of consumer dollars,” he said.

Overall, investors should focus on growing parts of the global economy by sector and “take control of them,” he said.

Hutchins, who declined to talk about his firm’s $24 billion bid to buy Dell Inc., said he remains optimistic, but he called on the business community to work to create more jobs.

“The unhappy situation is not 2 percent growth – the unhappy picture is unemployment,” he said.

Hutchins said he focuses on macroeconomic forecasts because, “you can make the best company selection but you can still get killed” if overall business conditions take a dive.

While some may be hoping for the economy to heat up, the current recovery ranks as the “worst…since World War II,” he said.

“This is the economic recovery,” Hutchins said. “This is what you’re going to get. The recovery is already middle aged. It’s time to do some of the things [you] postponed for the future.”