Buffett bets against another recession
Source: Bloomberg News |
July 9, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BILLIONAIRE Warren Buffett said he is wagering on continued economic expansion and doesn't expect a second recession.
"I would bet very heavily against that," Buffett told Bloomberg Television's Betty Liu on the "In the Loop" program yesterday after data showed slowing US job growth. "How fast the recovery will come, I don't know. I see nothing that indicates any kind of a double dip."
The unemployment rate climbed to 9.2 percent in June, the highest level this year, and hiring by companies was the weakest since May 2010, Labor Department data showed.
"It means that we're still ways off from getting to where we should be," Buffett said in the interview, in Sun Valley, Idaho.
"We're seeing growth around the world, but it's not mushrooming."
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc added about 3,000 jobs last year after cutting more than 20,000 positions in 2009. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company employed about 260,000 people at units from insurance and shipping to consumer goods and energy, Berkshire said in February.
Employment gained last year at Berkshire units including car insurer Geico and railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Staffing fell at carpet-maker Shaw Industries.
"Jobs come with demand," Buffett, 80, said yesterday. "We're seeing demand a lot of places but we're not seeing it in the construction field."
Buffett said in February that a housing recovery would begin "within a year or so" and that he's preparing the company's businesses for growth. Buffett is chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire.
"I would bet very heavily against that," Buffett told Bloomberg Television's Betty Liu on the "In the Loop" program yesterday after data showed slowing US job growth. "How fast the recovery will come, I don't know. I see nothing that indicates any kind of a double dip."
The unemployment rate climbed to 9.2 percent in June, the highest level this year, and hiring by companies was the weakest since May 2010, Labor Department data showed.
"It means that we're still ways off from getting to where we should be," Buffett said in the interview, in Sun Valley, Idaho.
"We're seeing growth around the world, but it's not mushrooming."
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc added about 3,000 jobs last year after cutting more than 20,000 positions in 2009. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company employed about 260,000 people at units from insurance and shipping to consumer goods and energy, Berkshire said in February.
Employment gained last year at Berkshire units including car insurer Geico and railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Staffing fell at carpet-maker Shaw Industries.
"Jobs come with demand," Buffett, 80, said yesterday. "We're seeing demand a lot of places but we're not seeing it in the construction field."
Buffett said in February that a housing recovery would begin "within a year or so" and that he's preparing the company's businesses for growth. Buffett is chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire.
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