Warren Buffett to Donald Trump: The economy is 'pretty damn good'

In an interview with Politico’s Playbook, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO outlined his perspective on the U.S. economy, which Donald Trump described as being in the “weakest so-called recovery since the Great Depression.”

Buffett, a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton, begs to differ. Here are his main arguments about where the economy stands and what it will take for growth to accelerate:

#1) A 2% growth rate is nothing to sneeze at:

Okay, the modest 2% growth that the U.S. economy has experienced in recent years is nothing like the 3%+ growth in gross domestic product in the 1980s and ’90s, or the 4%+ growth rate of the 1960s.

But contrary to popular political rhetoric, a projected economic growth rate of 2% through 2017 is not terrible, Buffett said. He points out:


“Even 2% growth in one generation will produce $19,000 more — per capita, not per household — of real GDP. Just imagine, on average, a family of four, $76,000 of added GDP in one generation. So 2% growth will do wonders for this country starting from this space. It doesn’t match our best years, but it’s pretty damn good.”

#2) You can’t expect much faster growth coming out of the financial crisis.

Buffett’s argument seems to directly contradict Trump’s negative views on the U.S. economy.

But Buffett says there’s a reason why this rebound still feels like the slowest recovery since the Great Depression to some. That’s because the global financial crisis was the closest thing the economy has seen to the Depression in nearly a century. And it takes a long time to get over the lingering effects of major economic crises.

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