Seeing Red: Buffett, Others Clash On Danger Posed by U.S. Debt

By Frank Ahrens Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, August 23, 2008; Two long-term views of the U.S. economy were on vivid display at a town hall meeting Thursday night, with the world's richest person on one side and pretty much everybody else on the other. If there is general agreement that times are tough in the short term -- the markets are flighty, foreclosures are widespread and jobless claims remain high -- there is sharp disagreement on what the future holds. If Buffett has a concern about the future of the U.S. economy, it seems focused on the widening of the trade deficit. Others on the panel, however, were most worried about the coming burden of senior citizens on Medicare and Medicaid, with secondary concerns about the long-term obligations of Social Security. Each offered potential solutions. The individuals on the panel were David M. Walker, former US comptroller general; Warren Buffett; Peter G. Peterson, founder of the Blackstone Group, William A. Niskanen, chairman of Washington's Cato Institute; and Bill Novelli, chief executive of AARP.