Warren Buffett says that not raising the debt ceiling is like unleashing poison gas

[cali]

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett warned Wednesday that failing to raise the debt ceiling would be like unleashing “poison gas” and a political weapon that should not be used.

“If it does happen, it’s a pure act of idiocy. You might say that the threat to not raise the debt ceiling after you’ve already spent the money is, it’s really a political weapon of mass destruction,” the Berkshire Hathaway CEO said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. “There are certain weapons that are just improper to use against humanity. And to use this against the American public, it is a political weapon of mass destruction, and both sides should say we’re not going to touch it, just like with poison gas, just like with nuclear weapons. It’s too powerful.”
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Buffett said Washington, D.C., is “a mess” and should listen to advice he gave his children when they were young: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 20 minutes to ruin it.”

“We’ve been building a reputation for proper fiscal behavior, with our currency at least, for 237 years,” Buffett said. “So to give up, or to do anything to damage the 237 years of good behavior is idiocy, and I don’t think it will happen.”


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http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/warren-buffett-debt-limit-default-budget-98382.html?hp=r1

[Turbineguy]

1. Don't give the Tea Partiers any new ideas!

If we gas everybody, then surely Jesus will come!

[Laelth]

2. Very few people think we will risk default, as the markets show.

People underestimate the power of the extreme wing of the Republican Party (and it's a huge and growing wing). Those folks are not beholden to Wall Street the way most Republicans used to be. People have too much faith in good government.

The money-bags no longer control their beast, the Republican Party. They are slowly waking up to this fact. Warren Buffett isn't there yet.

-Laelth