>Misery will last, says Buffett
Business Week - September 3, 2001
THE ECONOMY
Buffett Forecasts Eight Bad Years
If you're looking for a rosy economic forecast, don't knock on Warren Buffett's door. Seems the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and King of All Value Investors has been telling the executives he meets with to brace themselves for a long slowdown. Not only is there no turnaround in sight this quarter or even this year, according to Buffett, but those who've met with him say that he is predicting eight years of economic stagnation. Buffett attributes the standstill to a "hangover effect" from the excesses of the late 1990s, says one private equity investor who has heard the Sage of Omaha's reasoning.
Buffett generally doesn't speak to the press, and questioning his headquarters about his economic forecast proved to be no exception. But if the 70-year-old business guru is right--as he so often has been in the past--his strategy of rational investing for the long term is going to look even smarter down the road.
By Heather Timmons