Buffett Blasts Washington for 'Silly' Game of 'Russian Roulette'

U.S. plays 'Russian roulette' with debt ceiling

Warren Buffett greets U.S. President Barack Obama. Buffet has likened the U.S. Congress threatening not to extend the debt ceiling to a game of Russian roulette. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

U.S. President Barack Obama will work with close allies and bitter rivals to head off a crisis over government spending that could cripple the world's largest economy in less than a month.
Top lawmakers in both parties are set to meet at the White House on Thursday to discuss the impasse over the U.S. budget. Republicans are insisting on major cuts to out-of-control deficits as the price for approving must-do legislation to increase the government's debt ceiling — the maximum it is allowed to go into debt to fund its daily operation.
The government is on track to break its current limit on Aug. 2. Unless Obama wins Congressional approval to raise the ceiling, the U.S. government would technically be in default as of that day.
A default would throw financial markets into turmoil, raise U.S. interest rates and devastate the economic recovery.
The negotiations are the first official sit-down since Republican House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor last month left talks that had been led by Vice-President Joe Biden, citing an insistence by Democrats on raising taxes.
The Obama administration wants to close tax loopholes to raise government revenues, which would then get the ballooning U.S. deficit under control. But the president's opponents say the government takes in enough money as it is, and instead want to see spending cuts to get the government back into the black.
As recently as Wednesday, Obama attacked Republicans as defenders of wasteful and unfair loopholes such as those rewarding highly profitable oil companies with billions of dollars a year in subsidies they don't seem to need or a break given to companies that purchase private jets.
"The debt ceiling should not be something that is used as a gun against the heads of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners or oil and gas companies that are making billions of dollars," Obama said during a Twitter town hall on Wednesday.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett echoed that fatalistic imagery Thursday, saying Congress is playing with fire by considering not raising the debt ceiling.
The CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway said Thursday on CNBC that there is no way to tell what might happen if the debt limit is not increased, but it's a dangerous idea.Read more...