OMAHA — Billionaire Warren Buffett said Wednesday that the U.S. economy continues to improve and doesn’t need as much government help as it is currently getting.
Buffett appeared Wednesday on CNBC, four days after releasing his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders and discussing his insatiable appetite for big acquisitions, such as last year’s purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive said most of the businesses his company owns, except the ones that make housing-related products, continue to improve, despite the fluctuations in public sentiment about the economy.
“What we’ve seen now for two years is things have been getting slowly better,” Buffett said Wednesday.
And he said he is optimistic about the future because of the strength and resiliency of the U.S. system.
He said he doesn’t think the U.S. economy needs as much monetary or fiscal stimulus as it is getting from the Federal Reserve and government spending.
Buffett said all the government’s stimulus efforts were needed in 2008 and 2009 to keep the economy moving, but he’s seen no indication of the nation trying to break its addiction to stimulus spending. He said the current deficit spending in the United States is guaranteed to generate inflation.
“We are following policies that will lead to lots of inflation down the road if things don’t change,” he said.
Buffett said he’s looking to make acquisitions but that it’s hard to find big businesses that are good fits with Berkshire.
