Warren Buffett Interviewed In Sofa Warehouse, Says Situation “Close To The Worst Case” But Not To Worry

CNBC, the American TV channel, has had Warren Buffett on all morning long today, and had him spout wisdom in what looks like a sofa warehouse. Presumably the idea was to surround him with enough leather to distract from that which makes up his face. But after a twinkling crankiness at having to get up early, The Buffett was down to business.

Despite saying that the economy “has fallen off a cliff” and is “close to the worst case”, he’s confident in a way that a man with an bewilderingly diverse portfolio and enough money to buy many small nations can be, even if he is experiencing the hard times first hand.

In brief: the free market system is fine, it just “gets gummed up once in a while”. All we need to do is pull together, like after Pearl Harbour, forget all that “partisan stuff” and listen to our leaders. Forget about the Madoff bashing or any other bashing for that matter. Obama needs to reassure people more. Leverage is “fun” but bad. And private jets are great.

Transcript here, or edited video below:

Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Hot Money | March 9, 2009 2:41PM |