Warren Buffett, the legendary CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has some strong words for the lady and the gentlemen running for President: Stop bashing the United States economy!
“Candidates can’t stop speaking about our country’s problems (which, of course, only they can solve),” he wrote in his annual letter to shareholders, released Saturday morning.
“As a result of this negative drumbeat, many Americans now believe that their children will not live as well as they themselves do. That view is dead wrong: The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history,” Buffett added.
Buffett, who has publicly supported Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton for president, did not mention any candidate by name. But the Oracle of Omaha has often gone out of his way to suggest that the U.S. economy is in better shape than people give it credit for.
He said that even if the economy continues to muddle along at a somewhat subpar 2% growth rate, that is enough to deliver “astounding gains” for all Americans.
Buffett acknowledged the growing problem of income inequality, conceding that even though “the pie to be shared by the next generation will be far larger than today’s, how it will be divided will remain fiercely contentious.”
But he quickly added that the wealth divide between the rich and poor has been an issue that has “forever been with us — and will forever continue.” As he usually does in his Berkshire letters, Buffett chose to focus on the positive.
“Even members of the “losing” sides will almost certainly enjoy — as they should — far more goods and services in the future than they have in the past,” he said.
Buffett also suggested that Social Security will continue to be there for Americans — despite dire predictions about the Social Security trust fund running out of money sometime between 2033 and 2037.
“America’s golden goose of commerce and innovation will continue to lay more and larger eggs. America’s social security promises will be honored and perhaps made more generous. And, yes, America’s kids will live far better than their parents did,” he wrote.
Of course, it’s easy to be this bullish when your net worth is more than $62 billion.
But Buffett is correct to point out that betting against the U.S. economy and stock market over the long haul has historically been a losing proposition. That’s why he thinks the presidential contenders need to be less alarmist on the campaign trail.
“Today’s politicians need not shed tears for tomorrow’s children,” he wrote.
