Warren Buffett said Saturday during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting that the United States has an “unsustainable” level of debt, but didn’t envy those who were tackling the issue.
The longtime CEO offered a blunt assessment on the state of the country’s finances as cost-cutting efforts by the White House DOGE Office have dominated President Donald Trump’s second term thus far.
“I think the problem of how you control revenue and expenses in the government is one that is never fully solved. And I don’t think we’re immune from it,” Buffett said.
“We’re operating at a fiscal deficit now that is unsustainable over a very long period of time,” he continued. “It has the aspect to it that gets uncontrollable at a certain point. [Former Federal Reserve chair] Paul Volcker kept that from happening … we’ve come close multiple times.”
When Buffett was asked about DOGE, he didn’t delve into the politics of the initiative. However, he said it would be a difficult but necessary job to cut the deficit.
“I think that bureaucracy is dangerously contagious, and it really doesn’t have any checks on it,” he said. “I wouldn’t want the job of trying to correct what’s going on in revenue and expenditures of the United States with roughly a 7% gap, when probably a 3% gap is sustainable.”
“I think it’s a job I don’t want, but it’s a job I think should be done, and Congress does not seem good at doing it,” he added, with the audience in Omaha, Nebraska, clapping after this point was made.
Business Insider’s Theron Mohamed reported live from the event. In the closing moments of his speech, Buffett shocked the world by announcing that he planned to step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of this year. Buffett said he’d recommend to the board of directors that Greg Abel, now a vice chair at Berkshire Hathaway, succeed him as chief executive.
In May 2024, Buffett warned of the perils of the deficit, arguing that it’s “what we should be focused on,” while also praising Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
“Jay Powell is not only a great human being, he’s a very, very wise man, but he doesn’t control fiscal policy,” Buffett said at the time.
In recent weeks, Trump has ramped up his feud with Powell, arguing that the chair needed to lower interest rates.
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