A Depression Is Looming

[gregm]

More of the buffett interview http://www.scribd.com/doc/49951733/C...t-March-2-2011

BECKY:
So what are you seeing in your businesses right now? You said that we're back on track, but are we chugging along? Are we inching a long? How are things coming?

Buffett: It's probably closer to inching in most businesses. And in residential construction, it's not inching. It's not going at all. But so you do have this uneven situation. We have a few businesses that are that are really kind of booming, but and we have a great many businesses that are moving forward, and then we have some a few that are stuck. And but I think that's true of the economy.

So but what we've seen now for almost two years is we've seen it getting better. Rather consistently, but not in a dramatic, at a dramatic pace. And what has been interesting to me is that the sentiment has gone up and down quite a bit during a period when you really haven't seen all that much change in the underlying trend.

BUFFETT
: Yeah. Our business at Berkshire was quite a bit better in 2010 than 2009, but we only added 3,000 jobs, you know, from 260,000 roughly, on a base. So we added 1percent to jobs net and yet our business really improved quite a bit more than that.

BECKY:
Mm-hmm.

BUFFETT
: And there were real gains in productivity achieved on the downside. People, at least when they really had to tighten their belts, they found out they could do it. And I think that period is largely over. I think the gains in business will be much more reflected by gains in employment going from this point forward than they have in the first year and a half or two years of this recovery.


CNBC SQUAWK BOX TRANSCRIPT: MARCH 2, 2011PAGE 5

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BECKY:
Does that mean good news by the end of this year? Or does that mean good news by next year because depending on whose forecast you're watching, the employment number could go down significantly.

BUFFETT
: Yeah, yeah.

BECKY:
This year, or it might take two years.

BUFFETT
: I'm not a,I really don't know the answer on that, but if you ask me just to guess...

BECKY:
Mm-hmm.

BUFFETT
: ...I would guess that that by the close to the election of 2012 that unemployment would be probably in the low 7s.

BECKY:
OK.

BUFFETT
: And then how good that'll look to people, I don't know at the time. But that would be my guess from what I see in business

[OmgUrMom]

And just in case anyone misinterprets what I'm saying: I'm not bashing the US. I'm a citizen, my son is a citizen, my dad was born there, I love the States. However there's some bad shit going down now for the US and it's like the government (no matter who is in) has blinders on to the world around it. It's not pretty to watch when you love that country because economically wise, it's become a joke and almost a non-factor worldwide.

which countries have more influence/are better off economically than the united states? (quite a few countries are doing well, arguably better, but they are considerably smaller in population so have less of an effect world wide, i would think)

[jjgold]

Dems just boosting economy until next election, all they want is to get re elected

[onetrickpony]

a culture that has kids take credit for their parents wealth is a strange one indeed, more power to ya

i cant argue with a retard who cant think out of the box and has yet to step outside of his home to draw any other conclusions

[OmgUrMom]

i cant argue with a retard who cant think out of the box and has yet to step outside of his home to draw any other conclusions

[onetrickpony]

The difference is they're exploiting the natural resources they have and negotiating so hard that they're selling parts of them to the highest bidder while keeping the rest for themselves. To the point where some US company just got outbid by a Canadian one trying to buy an Aussie mine, and both the US and Canada continually got talked down in negotiations so they ended up with a minimal % while having to ensure a minimum # of Aussie jobs in the process. So they basically sold a 10th of their company yet guaranteed 99% of the jobs would be filled by Australians. Yet those Aussies will be paid by non Aussies. They just found another literal gold mine the other day. They have gold and coal coming out of their arses and they've found the perfect way to capitalise on it. They're using their brains to maximise the little they have on this little island country. Australia is somewhat focused on service but so is the US, to an even greater extent. As Cougs just said - the US produces nothing. There is nothing coming out of that country that the world either wants and more importantly needs. What next?

u cant nickel and dime for a long a period of time, eventually that goldmine will dry up what then?

[C-Gold]

Lol ok re-read the thread its me my girl and my Bulldog. What people merchandise would i be hauling around? I teach for living i am the merchandise. And i'll let you slide on the gay joke you just gave me my morning laugh not because that corny hybrid attempt at humor was funny but because you would piss yourself if you even thought about saying something like that to my face.

No wonder you want to drive one of those little eco tin cans and hope for high gas prices so you can laugh at the successful people driving SUVs, you are a teacher and dead broke.

[wtf]

No wonder you want to drive one of those little eco tin cans and hope for high gas prices so you can laugh at the successful people driving SUVs, you are a teacher and dead broke.

would also add he always falls back on typical knee grow stereotype of resorting to violence to try and get his immature point across - "you wont say that to my face", what a pussy

[King Mayan]

would also add he always falls back on typical knee grow stereotype of resorting to violence to try and get his immature point across - "you wont say that to my face", what a pussy

Says the chinaMan that comes talking shit at every fukking moment

[King Mayan]

No wonder you want to drive one of those little eco tin cans and hope for high gas prices so you can laugh at the successful people driving SUVs, you are a teacher and dead broke.

I thought teachers were rich?? repubes at it again!!

[C-Gold]

would also add he always falls back on typical knee grow stereotype of resorting to violence to try and get his immature point across - "you wont say that to my face", what a pussy

[C-Gold]

I thought teachers were rich?? repubes at it again!!

I said successful. Driving a Prius with a peeled off Obama 08' sticker to babysitting 15 year olds and tell them the temperature is changing isn't how I would define success.

Education stopped being about education and it started being about social engineering. That's when America fell to the 35th best school system in the world.

[dice]

The U.S. is too big to fail. Too much of the world is based on U.S. dollar valuation. The same strategy the banks and AIG used also applies to this country on a macroeconomic scale. Don't collapse the U.S. unless you want a worldwide depression that will last a long time!