Warren Buffet: We'll Recover Thanks To 'American Magic'

Warren Buffet (Bloomberg photo)

Warren Buffett offered reassurance at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s annual virtual meeting Saturday that the U.S. economy will recover steadily from the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Speaking onstage at an empty arena in downtown Omaha, Neb., Buffett said the range of possibilities from the pandemic was wide, but it had significantly narrowed in recent weeks.

He said it now seemed unlikely the world would face the worst possible health and economic scenarios from the novel coronavirus, compared with some of the predictions made earlier this year. Moreover, the U.S. economy will recover with time, Buffett said.

“We’ve faced tougher problems, and the American miracle, the American magic, has always prevailed,” he said in livestreamed remarks, adding that it would do so again.

Despite Buffett’s confidence in the economy’s ability to overcome obstacles over time, he said it is hard to factor in an unpredictable event like a pandemic on markets, and he underscored his policy of not using borrowed money for investments.

“You can bet on America, but you are going to have to be careful on how you bet. Simply because markets can do anything,” he said.