Buffett sees long, deep U.S. recession | Reuters.com http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?

articleId=USL2422759120080524

Print | Close this window

Buffett sees "long, deep" U.S. recession

Sat May 24, 2008 7:30am EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States is already in a recession and it will

be longer as well as deeper than many people expect, U.S. investor Warren
Buffett said in an interview published in German magazine Der Spiegel on
Saturday.

He said the United States was "already in recession" and added: "Perhaps
not in the sense that economists would define it" with two consecutive
quarters of negative growth.

"But the people are already feeling the effects," said Buffett, the world's
richest man. "It will be deeper and last longer than many think."

But he said that won't stop him from investing in selected companies and
said he remained interested in well-managed German family-owned
companies.

"If the world were falling apart I'd still invest in companies," he said.

Buffett also renewed his criticism of derivatives trading.

"It's not right that hundreds of thousands of jobs are being eliminated, that
entire industrial sectors in the real economy are being wiped out by financial
bets even though the sectors are actually in good health."

Buffett complained about the lack of effective controls.

"That's the problem," he said. "You can't steer it, you can't regulate it
anymore. You can't get the genie back in the bottle."

(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by James Jukwey)

© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from
this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of
Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the
prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or
trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.

Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and
disclosure of relevant interests.

1 of 1 6/8/2009 12:00 AM