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Home › Politics

Politics | 01/19/2009 9:45 am

Buffett to Brokaw: 'This Is an Economic Pearl Harbor' (Video)

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
Buffett on "Dateline NBC"

He’s described as the world’s richest man, and when Warren Buffett talks, we listen.

In case you missed it, Buffett sat down with Tom Brokaw on last night’s "Dateline NBC" to discuss the economy, the future and Barack Obama.

During the interview, Buffett, who has been advising the incoming president, described the financial crisis as an "economic Pearl Harbor," and said it’s the worst it’s been since World War II. The Omaha resident goes on to say Obama is the "absolute right commander in chief." He calls the next president "cool," "analytical" and a "good listener" — qualities that will help him repair our economy. He’s sure to warn, however, that the American people shouldn’t expect a "miracle" turnaround.

Watch the video below to hear Buffett’s take on the proposed economic stimulus plan, the mortgage crisis, the pros and cons of being greedy and more …

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Click here for a complete transcript:

Read more about: Barack Obama, Business, Dateline NBC, Economy, Finance, Greed, Housing, Mortgage Crisis, News, Pearl Harbor, Stimulus, Tom Brokaw, Video, Warren Buffett

7 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Buh- Bye
Buffet has always been the finest example of financial restraint on the personal front. Of course, there is the other side to that story - the acquiring massive wealth side. It really wasn’t that long ago that Greenspan was the golden boy with all the answers… and at some point, Madoff (supposedly) was the wonder boy who knew everything. The lesson is that one man offers one perspective and one approach. Never put all your eggs in one basket. Gather many advisors around Mr. Obama. Listen to them all before you make decisions.
By Buh- Bye on 01/19/2009 10:17 am
k b
I think Buffet is a financial purist. He has a history of advising others for the simple purpose that a good economy is good for him as well. There are times you can see some priorities at work, but rarely beyond the scope of a single business or industry. Greenspan was responsible for the American economy and had every chance to understand what was going on from 2000 - 2006. Instead of heeding the S&L, tech.boom.bust, and Japan, he thought he could over-ride the nature of the beast for his buddie’s (banks, politicians, etc) benifit until they were out. Well that didn’t work. Now Greenspan’s current clients are cleaning up nicely in the after math. I’ll never think that Greenspan was stupid, he was acting on his priorities. Unfortunately, those priorities didn’t include the American people and many began calling him on that as early as 2003. But, like you posted, he was the “golden boy” giving the politicians and bankers what they wanted. 2007/2008 is nothing more than the S&L blown up to a massively global scale. Buffet is right. We have probably 2 more HARD years finding bottom (as a world), then decades to climb back. 2006 will not be back anytime soon. Our economy is not in the process of “bouncing”. Our economy is going “splat”. US wages HAVE to go down, which will drive down the price of everything else as well, which means many someones will have to take losses somewhere. Right now, banks (who engineered this mess) are pushing losses off onto individuals (loosing equity in houses) and the taxpayers. That can’t keep going on.
By k b on 01/20/2009 10:14 pm
Dee T
My Alias, Good advice. Get as many perspectives as possible. The decisions you make today will determine your tomorrow. I only wish GB had done more of that. I fear he was ill-advised and ill-informed.
By Dee T on 01/19/2009 1:21 pm
Tee Zee
Obama is the “absolute right commander in chief.” He calls the next president “cool,” “analytical” and a “good listener” — qualities that will help him repair our economy. Enough said!
By Tee Zee on 01/19/2009 1:41 pm
Dee T
I agree, Tee Zee. As long as Obama has the support of the Congress and the American people, and our PATIENCE, he will get things turned around. He will not allow himself to be ill- informed or ill- advised.
By Dee T on 01/19/2009 2:29 pm
Suzanne Frazier
New York was hit by terrorists again….and this time the terrorists are the people most of us thought we could trust - the bankers, the investment counselors, financial advisors. We have attacked ourselves from the inside. We are the terrorists and we have turn on ourselves. Stunning. Now that we have a leader in the White House, maybe we will stop terrorizing each other. Hopefully, everyone will listen and act appropriately. Maybe “greed” can be contained and eliminated. God help those individuals who know what they did to the rest of us.
By Suzanne Frazier on 01/23/2009 9:32 pm
Chris Glass`
Our new president inherited mess left by the previous administration. Warren Buffet is right, it will take time to rebuild our economy. I am cautiously optimistic that we will see things starting to improve by the end of the year. We, the citizens, need to realize that government can’t fund every program. Rebuilding also has to come from the private sector. The jobs provided should be to Americans, not foreign guest workers. Corporations need to fire the MBA’s that sold off company assets and put the engineers back in place to rebuild infrastructure. The MBA’s focused on short-term profit not long-term gain. They let plants fall into neglect with a lack of maintenance or just plain neglect because shutdowns cost money. They forgot that like cars, machinery must be serviced to be productive. Once a plant became costly to maintain works was shifted to other facilities leaving trained workers unemployed. If we put as much money into improving mills in the US as we do overseas we could be competitive again. Stronger is we don’t have to rely on getting in goods from overseas. Some corporations have found to their dismay that doing business in a third world country was more expensive than paying American wages. They didn’t anticipate the graft factor or the cost of foreign utilities. It is time for American companies to reinvest in their own country if they expect to be supported.
By Chris Glass` on 02/02/2009 8:52 pm