Buffett made his comments on CNBC television after his Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, BRKB) agreed to invest $6.5 billion in the takeover of chewing gum maker Wm Wrigley Jr (WWY) by Mars in a $23 billion transaction.
“This is not a field of specialty for me, but my general feeling is that the recession will be longer and deeper than most people think,” Buffett said. “This will not be short and shallow.
“I think consumers are feeling gas and food prices,” he added, “and not feeling they’ve got a lot of money for other things.”
He was not immediately available for further comment. Known for his frugality, the 77-year-old Buffett has lived in the same 10-room Omaha, house for a half-century, despite being worth an estimated $62 billion.
On Wednesday, the Commerce Department is expected to say how fast the economy grew in the first quarter. Economists on average have projected that gross domestic product grew at an annualized 0.2% rate in the quarter.
Two quarters of declining GDP is a traditional indicator of recession. That last happened in 2001. Economists expect the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to cut a key lending rate for a seventh time beginning last September.
Buffett sees no respite from the housing slump.
“I think this is going to be fairly long and fairly deep, but who knows,” he said.
Filed under: Credit Crunch, Economy, MoneyBob Postings | Tagged: Credit Crunch, economics, Economy, Recession, USA Today
