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Jan.19

12:13 PM ET

Monday, 19 Jan 2009

Warren Buffett's Dateline Interview with Tom Brokaw of NBC: The Complete Transcript

Posted By:Alex Crippen

Sectors:Banks

BROKAW:

Paul Krugman, among others, says we're not doing enough. That we've got to even-- open the valves even greater than we have been. A lot of people are concerned about the deficit and what the consequences are gonna be down the stream. Are we doing enough?

BUFFETT:

I don't know the perfect answer. Nobody else does either. I mean, Paul Krugman doesn't know it. And Barack Obama doesn't know it. And (Treasury Secretary-Designate) Tim Geithner doesn't know it. All we know is we have to do something on a very major scale. And if we find out six months down the road that we've-- you know, we've gone a little off course, left or right, we-- that can be adjustment-- we do not want to sit around and debate for six months what the perfect solution is.

We wouldn't know it if we found it. The-- the important thing to do is do what we know we need to do now. And-- and we'll always-- there will always be critics on that. That-- that-- the important thing is, that the person that's there takes the action that makes sense at the time. Did we handle the-- the aftermath of Pearl Harbor the next month perfectly? I don't know whether we did or not. But I would doubt that. You know, somebody now can come up with a better system. The important thing is, we got going.

BROKAW:

A year ago, some of your big business friends and Republican friends were pretty critical and pretty skeptical about Barack Obama. Have they come around?

BUFFETT:

Well, I-- I would say this. I-- I've never quite seen the amount of good will. I mean that-- the people that didn't vote for him-- I've got plenty of friends that didn't ... -- are-- are-- they were critical of him. They want him to succeed. I mean, there's-- people realize this is something very big and something important. And so, they are not-- nobody is hoping he falls on his face. So they are-- they are going to be behind him. And-- in a big way. I--

BROKAW:

And they've been impressed by his appointments.

BUFFETT:

Yeah, they've been impressed by his appoint-- they've been impressed by what he's said-- since-- since-- election day. I mean-- you know, I-- I have heard amazingly little-- carping at-- at-- at Obama since-- since the election by people who, you know, they-- they didn't want to-- they didn't vote for him. And you know, he doesn't quite stand for what they believe in. But boy, they-- they want him to succeed.

BROKAW:

Do you think you'll ever get him to stop by a Dairy Queen? (LAUGHTER)

BUFFETT:

I think-- my guess is he's been to the Dairy Queen. I'll work on his girls. (LAUGHTER)

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