On the issue of the securitized mortgages, Buffett said one can make more money “selling toxic waste to customers,” but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.
“Wall Street started believing its own PR on this – they started holding this stuff themselves, maybe because they couldn’t sell it. It worked wonderfully until it didn’t work at all.”
Now, “Wall Street is reaping what they’ve sown,” Buffett said. “It will sort itself out over time with a fair amount of pain. We have an economy that can take it.“
–Mortgage crisis perplexes even shrewd investor Warren Buffett [San Francisco Chronicle]
at least WB thinks our economy is still strong enough to take it…or at least he says as much.