Recently, Warren Buffett (yes, I know I usually talk about the other Buffett) was interviewed By CNBC. “We’ve been getting thousands and thousands of emails from our viewers. Warren, we’d like to start with one that echoes a theme we heard again and again. This one comes from Terry in San Antonio, Texas, who asks, ‘Will everything be all right?’”
BUFFETT: “Everything will be all right. We do have the greatest economic machine that man has ever created. We started with 4 million people back in 1790 and look where we’ve come. And it wasn’t because we were smarter than other people. It wasn’t because our land was more fertile or we had more minerals or our climate was more favorable. We had a system that worked. It unleashed the human potential. It didn’t work every year. We had 6 ‘panics’ in the 19th century. In the 20th century we had the Great Depression, World Wars, all kinds of things. But we have a system – largely free market, rule of law, equality of opportunity – all of those things that cause the potential of humans to get unleashed. And we’re far from done. Your kids will live better than mine. Your grandchildren will live better than your kids. There’s no question about that. But the machine gets gummed up from time to time. If you take the bulk of those centuries, probably 15 years were bad years. But we go forward.”
After Buffett’s very upbeat, 3-hour interview? Various meda filtered out all kinds of affirming, positive statements (such as the one above) to create the headline, “Warren Buffett Says ‘The Economy Fell Off a Cliff.”
I cannot look at the world through those gloom and doom lenses. This time shall pass. True, for some it is a sudden shock. Things have changed. In Michigan, perhaps more radically than some of the rest of the country. Our real estate market is different form any we have ever seen. I have friends that have lost their homes. I have friends that have filed for bankruptcy. Even those friends have not lost hope. I prefer to surround myself with positive thinking people.
BUFFETT: “Everything will be all right. We do have the greatest economic machine that man has ever created. We started with 4 million people back in 1790 and look where we’ve come. And it wasn’t because we were smarter than other people. It wasn’t because our land was more fertile or we had more minerals or our climate was more favorable. We had a system that worked. It unleashed the human potential. It didn’t work every year. We had 6 ‘panics’ in the 19th century. In the 20th century we had the Great Depression, World Wars, all kinds of things. But we have a system – largely free market, rule of law, equality of opportunity – all of those things that cause the potential of humans to get unleashed. And we’re far from done. Your kids will live better than mine. Your grandchildren will live better than your kids. There’s no question about that. But the machine gets gummed up from time to time. If you take the bulk of those centuries, probably 15 years were bad years. But we go forward.”
After Buffett’s very upbeat, 3-hour interview? Various meda filtered out all kinds of affirming, positive statements (such as the one above) to create the headline, “Warren Buffett Says ‘The Economy Fell Off a Cliff.”
I cannot look at the world through those gloom and doom lenses. This time shall pass. True, for some it is a sudden shock. Things have changed. In Michigan, perhaps more radically than some of the rest of the country. Our real estate market is different form any we have ever seen. I have friends that have lost their homes. I have friends that have filed for bankruptcy. Even those friends have not lost hope. I prefer to surround myself with positive thinking people.
