Bill Gates, Warren Buffett on surviving the fin crisis

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Despite the financial crisis, former Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft, and Warren Bufffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway, say America's economic future remains robust.

The two richest men in the world, who are also good friends and business partners, came together at the Columbia Business School to talk about the future of the American economy. Here's Warren Buffett and Bill Gates on surviving the global financial crisis and the lessons from it.

Announcer: The embodiment of the American dream, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, self-made billionaires whose values run as deep as their wealth.  One redefined an industry, the other the modern investor.  But both put their stock in America, and by investing in business and humanity, reaped the rewards of this great country's capitalist tradition.  Today that tradition is under siege, our way of life questioned.  And with America at an inflection point, a future generation looks for guidance from the world's two greatest capitalists.  Now, they are going back to school, not to learn, but to teach.  Showing the next generation of business leaders that wealth is not about the money you amass, but the number of lives you enrich.  Tonight in a CNBC town hall event, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates share their secrets to keeping America great.

 

Becky Quick: A special CNBC town hall. I am Becky Quick at Columbia Business School at Columbia University. Let's hear it, guys. We are in the heart of New York City.  This is the world's center of capitalism and this is the place where dreams really do come true.  In fact, right now, look at all these people here today.  We could be surrounded by the next Warren Buffett or Bill Gates. How about you?  You ready to go?

 

Student: We are so excited to all be here today. You wouldn't believe how much tickets are being sold for out front.

 

Quick: I know you are not telling the truth.  You had to get in with your ID, right?

 

Student: Yes, this is true.

 

Quick: We are ready to go tonight. Tonight it is all about Keeping America Great. No people have done that better than Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Folks, let's please welcome Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. I see Warren is trying to work the home crowd here with Columbia.

 

Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us tonight. This has been, as you know, an extraordinary year. This is a year where the rules have been completely rewritten, where we have thrown out the rule books, and we have seen icons collapse. This is also a time when a lot of people have probably wondered about our way of life. People in this very room. That's going to be our focus in just a minute.  Gentlemen, before we get to that, the two of you may seem like an odd pair. For anybody who doesn't know you two well --

 

Buffett: You will think more odd when we get through.

 

Quick: What brings you two together tonight? Why you two and why here with these business students here at Columbia?

 

Buffett: Well, we enjoy working together. Actually, when I left Columbia, they told me I would probably have to come back and repeat a few classes. So here I am.

 

Quick: Gates, what about you?  You are ready to go with the students?

 

Gates: Yeah, it will be a lot of fun. Buffett and I love getting the questions and talking about our optimism.

 

Quick: The reason you two are here tonight is this is a pivotal moment in history. People have questions about the economy, about our entire system of capitalism. And, gentlemen, let me ask each of you, over the course of the last year, was there ever a time that you had doubts about capitalism and about our way of life?

 

Buffett: No, there was not a time. If there had been, last September when we invested a lot of money, that was when the country was looking into the abyss. The money was flowing out of money market funds. The commercial paper market died and everything. We put USD 8 billion to work in just a matter of a few days then. So I never lost confidence in the system. This country works, you know. We have got 200 years of proof. And it's going to continue to work.

 

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