OMAHA — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett says the U.S. is engaged in an “economic Pearl Harbor.”
In an interview that aired Sunday on “Dateline NBC,” the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said the economic situation is not as bad as World War II or the Great Depression, but it’s severe.
Buffett said Americans are in a cycle of fear, “which leads to people not wanting to spend and not wanting to make investments, and that leads to more fear. We’ll break out of it. It takes time.”
Buffett’s interview centered on the task President-elect Barack Obama faces in fixing the U.S. economy. “You couldn’t have anybody better in charge,” the Omaha resident said of Obama, who’ll be sworn into office on Tuesday.
“It’s never paid to bet against America,” he said. “We come through things, but its not always a smooth ride.”
