Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Interviewed by ABC

July-9-2009
Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway was interviewed by ABC today, in which he gave a guided support for a second economic stimulus package. Here are some quotes from the Buffett Make sure you watch the video in the end.

1. On the second economic stimulus package:
“I think that a second one may well be called for,"
"you hope it doesn't get watered down in many ways."
"Our first stimulus bill ... was sort of like taking half a tablet of Viagra and having also a bunch of candy mixed in ... as if everybody was putting in enough for their own constituents, it doesn't have really quite the wall that might have been anticipated there."

2. On government's public-private investment plan (PPIP)
"I do not like the idea of any kind of a plan involving the government where Wall Street makes a lot of money. My plan provided that they would make no money whatsoever, and the American public would make the money. I just think that Wall Street owes the American people one at this point,"

3. On economic recovery:
"We are not in a freefall, but we are not in a recovery either. We were in a freefall really in the last quarter of last year, starting in the financial markets and spreading to the economy, and we had this huge change in behavior. That change hasn't changed."
"We didn't want to do it, and if we saw things coming back we wouldn't do it" (Buffett laid off 500 people from his own company)

4. On severity of current recession:
"I have never seen it quite happen like this, but what happened was in late September, the American public … saw money market funds break the buck. They saw commercial papers stop, they saw all kinds of things that they hadn't seen before,It was a shock to the system."

5. But in the end Buffett remains optimistic:
"I want to emphasize, we are going to come out of this better than ever," he said. "I mean the best days of America, by far, lie ahead. But not next week or next month and then, I don't know exactly when we will come out, but we will come out big time."

Bilibala comments:
I don't think USA need a 2nd stimulus plan, but a 2nd stimulus plan will definitly help to end recession a lot quicker. On the other hand, it may lead to high inflation.