On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett stated that he’s more concerned about the prospect of Congress messing up the economy by spending more money than he is about monetary policy.
Buffett stated that “we don’t want to mess up our economic machine. And it can be done by inflation.”
Co-host Becky Quick then cut in to ask, “So, how do we mess it up? Should the Fed keep raising rates? Is inflation at bay? What do you think?”
Buffett answered, “Oh, basically, fiscal policy scares me more than monetary policy.”
He added, “I think it is easier to obtain votes if you give people money. And I think that, just like I want to keep my job at Berkshire, I want to get elected next year. And fortunately, I have enough stock and everything, yeah, I can do it. And if I was in a super, super, super safe district, maybe I would vote my conscience in Congress. But who knows how well I’d behave unless I was there. But my dad was in Congress. And I got to view how it behaved then, and I don’t think its behavior has improved since 1942 when I first went there and had lunch once with Sam Rayburn one time.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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