Oracle Of Omaha speaks

Buffett says mortgage ills might linger

Excerpt:

DAEGU, South Korea (AP) — American billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Thursday that problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market will likely weigh on consumers for up to two years but that the U.S. economy will weather the storm.

The subprime problem "is having an impact," Buffett said on his first visit to South Korea. "It will have more of an impact."

Rising default rates among U.S. mortgage holders with poor credit histories have rattled global credit, stock and currency markets since August and raised concerns about a possible recession in the U.S. economy, a major export market for Asian companies.

"In the next 6 months, one year, two years, the problems in the mortgage market can cause a lot of problems with consumers and hurt buying power in the United States," he said at a press conference after arriving earlier in the day from China on his private jet.

However, the U.S. economy has often had to face various difficulties and the present is no exception, said the Omaha investor.

"Overall the economy will make progress," he said.

Wikipedi: Warren Buffett