(October 16th 2013) Warren Buffett is on CNBC for three hours, we are posting the full interview below. We apologize that the interview is cut up into so many clips. What a few months ago would be 10 minute segments CNBC has chopped up into one minute segments. Video ads pay well….. so if you have complaints about that issue send them to CNBC not us!
Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway chairman & CEO, says despite the “mess” in Washington, there are still long-term investment opportunities in the U.S.
Warren Buffett video segments and transcripts below
it’s a perfectly okay debt to buy securities. we bought a $1 billion business about five hours ago. i think over at the uk. and we did not buy it with a condition in it that we could call off the deal if there was a no vote on the deficit change. limit change. so if you can own a good business, a good farm, a good apartment house, you know the united states is going to be around five or ten years from now and you know it will be more prosperous. it’s not necessarily a mistake to buy stocks because you don’t know the outcome of something that’s happening in congress. that’s a great long-term view. and your view has always been no matter what happens, we will get through it. we got through the great depression. we got through world war ii. but what about the immediate? people are really concerned about what’s happening in washington right now. it’s a mess. and if you think about it, i used to tell my children when they were young, it takes 20 years to build a reputation and 20 minutes to ruin it. we’ve been building a reputation for 237 years. the united states has become the reserve currency in the world in the process and people all over the world hold our paper. so to do anything to damage the 237 years of good behavior is idiotsy. i don’t think it will happen. but if it does happen, it’s a pure act of idiotsy.
Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway chairman & CEO, says not raising the debt ceiling is an “improper” weapon to use against the American people. This is like “poison gas,” he added
Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway chairman & CEO, discusses his company’s recent acquisition of a British vending machine company and the billions more he has and will spend on acquiring other companies.
Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway chairman & CEO, explains why he is concerned the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. is at risk because of the stalemate Washington.
i am fought worried in the sense of those treasury bills being paid. i’m worried about damage to an asset that we carefully cultivated for years. those short-term treasury bills, though, the rates have spiked on them, especially in the last couple of days. bill gross said he’s a buyer over at pimco. are you? they’ve spiked, but you’re talking about going from zero yield to 35 basis points. but 35 basis points for three or four days does not amount to a bunch of — in other words, you’re not scraping for cash? i’ve got better things to have had although that date looked pretty good. have you changed anything you’ve done at berkshire as a result of what’s been happening in washington? no. we have been at a derth when it comes to getting any signs of the economy, any reading on what is happening because you don’t have any economic numbers coming out. you have a lot of numbers coming out every day. in your opinion, has the u.s. economy been hurt by what’s been happening in washington and does it show up in your receipts? it has not shown up. but what will show up is in the world, united states citizens lose some faith in the full faith and credit promise of the united states. that would be a momentous event. even if we said, well, we’re slowing it for a week or we’re putting out script or whatever, that would be huge. we have been spent 237 years building up our reputation for billing our bills on time.