2015: How do chemical, nuclear, biological, and cybersecurity threats affect Buffett's outlook?

CAROL LOOMIS: “Mr. Buffett, you have expressed your optimism about the future of America many times and have often made the point that the U.S. simply has a superior economic system.

“But my question” — and this is from Christopher Gottchio (PH) of New York City — “my question concerns the risk of chemical, nuclear, biological, and cybersecurity problems and the audience should reflect on the initial letters of those words when I tell you that Mr. Buffett has sometimes dubbed that C-N-B-C.” Sorry, Becky. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: I just do that to tease people, but the —

CAROL LOOMIS: Wait a minute. One more. “How do these threats affect your outlook?”

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, they are the great threat to the United States. The — we will have — we have, and will have, a wonderful economic system.

You know, your children are going to live better than you do, and your grandchildren are going to live better than they do. That is — there are fits and starts and ups and downs. But just go outside or — as you fly home, just imagine what you’re flying over looked like in 1776, and everything since then is profit.

I mean, the farms are incredibly more productive. The cities have grown. It’s all here, you know, and that’s all come from unleashing the energies and brains of the American people and the system that has worked quite well despite all the deficiencies that we talk about all the time. So that hasn’t been lost at all.

And, you know, people get upset because we’re having 2 percent growth. Well, 2 percent growth with 1 percent population growth means 20 percent gain in a generation, and 20 percent on 54,000 of GDP per capita is another 10,000 of GDP per capita coming in the next generation.

This country has a wonderful future, but as the questioner pointed out, that can all be nullified by either madmen, or rogue states, or religious fanatics, or sociopaths, or whatever it may be, who have — who wish to have — access to weapons of mass destruction.

And to nuclear, which, as I used to think was the primary one, you know, you can now add biological and chemical and cyber.

And there will be an increasing number — there already are a huge number — of people that would wish harm, and particularly on the United States, although on others as well.

And those people aren’t going to go away, and they’re going to look for more ingenious ways of utilizing the raw materials that they have access — or might get access to — and better delivery systems.

And we need an extremely vigilant security operation in the United States, and we will have threats. I can’t — I do a little bit about those things in a few ways — but that’s something we live with.

But we also live in a country that is going to do extraordinarily well. And if we successfully ward off those threats, or at least minimize their impact on us, I still maintain that the luckiest person ever born in history, on a probabilistic basis, is the baby being born in the United States today. (Applause)

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, of course, we were a favored place, and we’ve had a favored outcome, and we’ve been lucky too.

I think I probably lived in the most ideal era that any man in human history could have been born into. I think you have, too, Warren.

WARREN BUFFETT: Right.

CHARLIE MUNGER: But I don’t think we should get too smug. China has come up a lot faster than any other big nation ever came up, and —

WARREN BUFFETT: But that’s good for us.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Oh, I think — I can hardly think of anything more important than future close collaboration between the United States and China.

I think you’re talking about the two most important nations in the world going forward. And I think it is very important that we like and trust one another, and have very good relations, and work together to avoid bad consequences that come from other people’s mistakes and misbehavior.

So I’m — (Applause)

I think both China and the United States would be crazy not to collaborate and increase trust.

I don’t think there’s anything more important that we could do for our respective safety and for the general benefit of the world. (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: If you had your choice, would you rather be born now with all the qualities you’ve got, or when you were born?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I must say it’s very interesting now, but it was always interesting.

And I think that’s too tough a question. I don’t like these very theoretical questions. (Laughter)

I’d rather think about something where I might gain some advantage or help somebody else to gain an advantage.