Warren Buffett: U.S. Economy Still In "Shambles" (VIDEO)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Billionaire Warren Buffett says the economy has not yet had any bounce and will take some time to recover.

Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and chief executive conducted a couple of live television interviews Wednesday in New York. The interviews came before his lunch with a Chinese investment manager who bid $2.1 million in a charity auction to dine with the Oracle of Omaha.

Buffett said during an interview on CNBC that all the reports he sees from Berkshire's businesses show that the economy has remained fairly flat.

Buffett says there were a lot of economic excesses to be wrung out, and that process is still under way.

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During Buffett's CNBC interview he also noted that the "we haven't got the economy moving yet," and that the US economy is still in "shambles."

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Comments

[Erdgeist]

03:06 PM on 06/25/2009

Sure Warren, as long has you have cheap gas the economy will not bounce back. But jack up the price of oil and the economy will start to blossom.

Sound crazy? Nope, it ain't. Put on your thinking helmet with fresh batteries.

Just read Jeff Rubin's book: _Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization_.

Rubin predicts that as oil prices rise it will make it far more expensive to ship goods to the U.S. from Asia which translates into more jobs returning to U.S. shores and bigger paychecks.

In addition, Rubin points out that with a huge increase in the price of oil there will be greater demand for U.S. farmland due to soaring fuel costs. This means lots of agriculture jobs in growing and processing food since food from China will become more expensive.

Let' hope our oil companies do us a favor and jack up the price of a barrel of oil. Goodbye made in China. Hello USA!!!

[icechaos]

03:40 PM on 06/25/2009

No it won't. What planet are you living on? Higher oil prices mean higher prices on everything including food.

[rshrink]

02:25 PM on 06/25/2009

States are cutting jobs. Teachers are being laid off. Programs are being eliminated. And guess what? The costs of all of these cuts will dwarf the savings by gigantic amounts. One example is California ending the poison program. Save 6 million. The cost, 63 million. Why? People will go to the emergency rooms, which ties them up even more and the costs are dramatically higher. This was like Reagan's cutting of the WIC program, a program which makes sure that pregnant mothers have adequate healthcare and nutrition. What is the cost of not doing it? Figure out the cost of every human that is destined to require a lifetime of care due to developmental disabilities. These programs exist because we learned in the past how much it costs when we don't prevent problems. Do we have to learn that again?

[rshrink]

02:20 PM on 06/25/2009

"Unemployment, said Buffett, will continue to drag the economy down. He told Bloomberg news that unemployment is "very likely to go above 10%." About 9.4% of the population – about 14.5 million people -- was unemployed in May, the last month for which statistics are available. High unemployment will continue to depress consumer demand for everything from energy to cars and homes, Buffett said."

Here is yet another area where too little is being done. Obama and the Congress need to put several things on hold, work around the clock in shifts or whatever it takes to produce a bill that will put people back to work right away. It is so costly, in so many ways to have people out of work. It is destructive to society and threatens this nation now even more than in the past. We have made enemies and have enemies who could easily exploit our people out of work problem. Just look at what has happened in other countries when too many people became disenfranchised from their country. Get on this Obama and Congress or we all will pay dearly. This is perhaps the single most urgent need in this country.

[nomorefed]

01:29 PM on 06/25/2009

economy about to get much worse....

hat tip to http://www.makeitbrief.com/avupq for the good articles

*****
Glass-Steagall Act
A 1933 act that prohibited commercial banks from undertaking investment banking activities such as underwriting the securities of private corporations. The legislation was passed to keep banks from entering into nonfinancial businesses (for example, owning corporate stock) and more risky activities. The Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999. Also called Banking Act of 1933.

[Sharon908]

12:20 PM on 06/25/2009

Mr. Buffet made a lot of money during the housing bubble with the bank stock. He also had his first loss ever during the same time period as it burst. Even those considered the best in their field are capable of investing in entities that are not solvent. Losses are far from over.

[Carolab]

03:05 AM on 06/25/2009

I wonder if Warren gave the Chinese all of his insider trading tips.

[sanity86]

12:49 AM on 06/25/2009

AllianceBernstein's Former HR Head Files Tell-All Suit

Article published on May 29, 2009
By Peter Ortiz

The former top HR executive with AllianceBernstein has hit the firm with a highly charged lawsuit that details allegations of sexual and racial discrimination involving some of the firm’s top managers.

In disclosing the claims, the complaint details several allegations involving lewd and inappropriate behavior on the part of AllianceBernstein executives, including sexual harassment, illegal drug use and a sexual relationship with a lower-level employee.
s.

Peress’s complaint alleges that a supervisor gave a poor review to a top-performing black regional manager, and when that manager complained, he was targeted for dismissal. Another senior executive was alleged to have smoked hashish, had sex with a temporary employee, used a crude and sexist term to describe a female employee and engaged in an inappropriate relationship with his assistant. There were several other allegations of inappropriate and potentially serious claims of sexual harassment that Peress was dissuaded from investigating, the complaint alleges.

The allegation also lays out the firm’s lack of diversity, including having about five black executives (out of 300) with the title of senior VP or higher. Two of those executives complained about race discrimination. There also were few or no Latino senior executives and 30 women financial advisors, two of whom were black, out of a total of 300 financial advisors, the complaint states.

[Carolab]

03:07 AM on 06/25/2009

Interesting but how does it relate to the topic?

[JXJASON]

06:57 AM on 06/25/2009

Sanity86's comment has nothing to do with the topic.

[Bude]

12:04 AM on 06/25/2009

Thanks for the hot tip.

[rampart231]

10:44 PM on 06/24/2009

You can always count on Buffet to give an honest appraisal of the world. He's owned so long he should know.

[lazercat2008]

11:08 PM on 06/24/2009

Can't take it with you Warren.

[jcko]

11:51 PM on 06/24/2009

He's no planning....given billions away already.

[Bude]

12:05 AM on 06/25/2009

He can if he's a republican.

[JaneK13]

11:11 PM on 06/24/2009

A couple of weeks ago, didn't Buffett say the economy is recovering?

Warren Buffett and his pals in DC are out of touch with the real world out here.

[Bude]

12:06 AM on 06/25/2009

Warren's in the same boat as Sam Zell, and it sunk.

[Lupin77]

10:24 PM on 06/24/2009

Whatever happened to all the jobs the stim bill was supposed to create? So far nothing much has happened and it looks like unemployment will go way beyond 10 percent this year. Maybe we all have to move to China where the jobs are in order to find work.

[vegasobserver]

10:30 PM on 06/24/2009

Because of the typical bureaucratic stalling and inertia that paralyzes anything good in America, the vast majority of the money hasn't been disbursed yet.

Look for most disbursals to begin a few months after the recession is officially declared over.

[zipowitz]

11:41 PM on 06/24/2009

So then why distribute it? How about keeping it and pay down the debt.

[icechaos]

03:44 PM on 06/25/2009

Then watch out for inflation to hit and the FED to have to increase interest rates which they can't do. You cannot borrow your way out of debt. The US is really screwed.

[garymc8]

12:26 AM on 06/25/2009

But after you spend all that money the slave labor jobs will end up right back in America because of the CEO GREED CREED. "Take as much as you can for yourself and burn the rest"

[icechaos]

03:46 PM on 06/25/2009

Of course it is always the greedy CEOs fault. 50 percent of the people in this country bascially pay no taxes. You do the math if you are capable of it.

[PSRinNJ2]

09:45 PM on 06/24/2009

You won't be able to blame this on Bush for much longer... and now Barney Frank is asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lower standards, the same thing that got us into trouble before... Enjoy your power now, 'cause you won't have it for long...

[jmpurser]

09:55 PM on 06/24/2009

We'll be blaming Bush a generation from now because that's how long it will take to fix this mess if we're lucky.

[Articulator]

10:22 PM on 06/24/2009

The economic situation we are in could take decades to fix. At the moment we are still in damage control mode. The fact that we havent fallen into a depression is success by itself.

[icechaos]

03:46 PM on 06/25/2009

We are in a Depression.

[lazercat2008]

09:23 PM on 06/24/2009

What a guy, the economy is in shambles and he still makes a billion dollars off it.

[Atlas Shrugged]

03:12 AM on 06/25/2009

He's giving it all to the Gates Foundation, targeting all the worst problems in the world. That good enough for you?

[gs425]

08:53 PM on 06/24/2009

Warren old buddy, I love your investment stratagies and I have been lucky enough to follow your buys and it worked out good. But when unemployment is approaching 10%, you don't need to be an Oracle to make this call.

[DFL]

08:48 PM on 06/24/2009

More hard times thanks to you rightwing america h.a.t.e.r.s. and your economic policies from the last 8 years.

[gs425]

08:55 PM on 06/24/2009

last 8 years
haters
I inherited this
the worst president ever

Breath...repeat as needed.

[OpposingViewpoint]

07:42 PM on 06/24/2009

No sheet Sherlock.....................errrr Warren.