巴菲特: 現在仍然是投資的好時候

As Congress scrambles to lift the nation's borrowing limit and avoid the risks of defaulting on its debt, billionaire investor Warren Buffett joined critics of the debt ceiling, calling the 1930s law originally intended to give the government More flexibility to borrow funds "a weapon of mass destruction."

就在美國國會爲提高政府債務上限並避免違約風險而掙扎的時候，億萬富翁、投資人沃倫?巴菲特也加入了批評債務上限政策的行列，他把後者稱爲“大規模殺傷性武器”。這項政策制定於20世紀30年代，本意是爲政府在籌款方面提供更大的靈活性。

"It really is like a nuclear bomb," says Buffett on Wednesday at Fortune's annual Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C."It's something that maybe you talk about but never dream of using."

巴菲特在華盛頓召開的《財富》最具影響力女性峯會（Most Powerful Women Summit）上說：“它就象一顆原子彈，你可能會提起它，但絕不希望真正用到它。”

Buffett's not alone. He joins the likes of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who argue the debt ceiling makes no sense and wishes it didn't exist. In recent years, politicos (ahem, Republicans) have gotten in the awful habit of framing the debt ceiling as a debate over excessive government spending, when in fact, the law has nothing to do with future spending. The debt ceiling simply gives the U.S. Treasury the flexibility to borrow for spending that Congress has already approved.

並不是只有巴菲特一個人持有這種觀點。美聯儲（U.S. Federal Reserve）主席本?伯南克等人也已表示，債務上限毫無意義，本來就不該存在。近年來，政客們（或者說共和黨人）養成了一個壞毛病，那就是把債務上限定義爲就政府超支展開辯論。而實際上，這項法律和政府未來的開支毫無瓜葛。債務上限的作用只是讓財政部能夠靈活地爲國會已經批准的支出項目籌款。

Despite all the fear and political wrangling in Washington, Buffett says it's "absolutely folly" to even think the U.S. will default on its debt because "it is so stupid."

儘管人們都很擔心，儘管國會議員們吵作一團，巴菲特卻認爲，光是美國將違約這個念頭就“愚蠢透頂”，因爲“這個想法非常愚蠢”。

In true Buffett fashion, the Oracle of Omaha had positive views of the U.S. economy. The recovery hasn't stalled, and it's still a good time to invest.

這位來自奧馬哈的先知用極富個人色彩的方式表達了對美國經濟的樂觀看法——復甦並未停止，現在仍然是投資的好時候。

"The country is coming back," he says. "You can't stop the United States. We get through everything. The country works."

他說：“美國正在恢復元氣。沒有人能阻止美國前進。我們可以排除一切困難。這個國家運轉正常。”

The Dow sank to 100 at the time, but he says that didn't discourage him from investing in the stock market. He has been buying stocks since.

巴菲特回憶說，他在1942年4月買了第一隻股票，當時美國剛剛因爲珍珠港事件而加入二戰。那時道瓊斯指數跌到了100點，但巴菲特說，這並沒有妨礙他投資股市。從那以後，他一直在買入股票。

A lesson for investors: "You want to be greedy when others are fearful ... I've got plenty of greed."

他告誡投資者：“其他人都害怕時你要變得貪心起來……而我一直都很貪心。”

Buffett touched on several other topics, from the economic rise of China to women in corporate America. On China, he says the world's second-biggest economy will be "enormously important and they should be," but the U.S. will be "the superpower of the world for a very, very, very long time.

巴菲特還談到了其他一些問題，比如中國經濟的崛起以及美國的職業女性。他說，中國這個世界第二大經濟體將變得“非常重要，而且也應該如此”，但美國“在今後非常、非常長的一段時間裏仍然將是超級大國”。

"What's important is that the two countries largely learn to live together," says Buffett about tensions between the U.S. and China.

談到中美之間的緊張關係，他認爲：“重要的是，總的來說這兩個國家正在學習如何共存。”

Widely considered the best investor of the 20th Century, Buffett, 83, attributes part of his success to luck and timing. He built his career at a time when most women were either teachers or nurses or secretaries or housewives. "I was lucky I was only competing with half the country," he says, adding that he's focused on attracting more talented women to his firm, Berkshire Hathaway.

外界普遍認爲巴菲特是20世紀最出色的投資人，但83歲的巴菲特把自己的成功歸結於運氣和時機。他的事業剛剛起步時，大多數美國女性還都是教師、護士、祕書或者家庭主婦。巴菲特說：“我很幸運，因爲只有一半的美國人和我競爭。”他還說，一直以來他的一項重點工作就是吸引更多有才幹的女性進入他的公司——伯克希爾-哈撒韋（Berkshire Hathaway）。

"Berkshire is going to prove that a lot of talented women could accomplish a whole lot."

“伯克希爾要證明，許多能幹的女性都可以取得非常高的成就。”