--- description: In his letter to shareholders title: Warren Buffett Letter to Shareholders Defends Slow US Growth image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta10ea6fa77107f33/69887f6dab6d77382f6a89d8/warren-buffet.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Warren Buffett](/tag/warren-buffett/) ## Warren Buffett Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Warren Buffett Just Attacked the Most Popular Idea in Economics by [Myles Udland / Business Insider](/author/business-insider/) ## Myles Udland / Business Insider Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 27, 2016 2:48 PM CUT  Warren Buffett arrives on stage during an event with Hillary Clinton in Omaha, Nebraska, on Dec. 16, 2015. Warren Buffett arrives on stage during an event with Hillary Clinton in Omaha, Nebraska, on Dec. 16, 2015.Daniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Myles Udland / Business Insider](/author/business-insider/) ## Myles Udland / Business Insider Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 27, 2016 2:48 PM CUT The economics world is obsessed with “[secular stagnation](http://www.businessinsider.com/category/secular-stagnation "undefined")” right now. In short, this idea — [which was re-surfaced by Larry Summers in 2013](http://www.businessinsider.com/larry-summers-imf-speech-on-the-zero-lower-bound-2013-11 "undefined") — says that there isn’t enough demand in the US and world economies to create economic growth above 2%. Over the last 40 or so years, the US often enjoyed growth rates far in excess of that number. But Warren Buffett thinks concerns about what this 2% growth path means for the future of the US economy are far overplayed. In fact, he thinks the idea that this is bad news at all is just wrong. In his 2015 letter to shareholders, Buffett writes, “Some commentators bemoan our current 2% per year growth in real GDP – and, yes, we would all like to see a higher rate. But let’s do some simple math using the much-lamented 2% figure. That rate, we will see, delivers astounding gains.” Here’s Buffett working out the whole problem (TL;DR, it’s gonna be great either way. Also, all emphasis ours): --- > “” --- Of course, if you look at Buffett’s portfolio of holdings, he is levered very, very long to the US economy. Said another way: he himself is betting heavily that things will continue to get better in the US. But when thinking about how “bad” things are for an economy that is growing around 2% per year — as the US economy is right now — Buffett’s argument is that, well, it’s not bad at all. [**_Read the whole letter here »_**](http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2015ltr.pdf "undefined") _This_ [_article_](http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-on-secular-stagnation-2016-2 "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_BusinessInsider.com_](http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-on-secular-stagnation-2016-2 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4239924/warren-buffett-letter-to-shareholders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4239924/warren-buffett-letter-to-shareholders/"},"headline":"Warren Buffett Just Attacked the Most Popular Idea in Economics","datePublished":"2016-02-27T14:48:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:26:21.651Z","description":"In his letter to shareholders","url":"https://time.com/4239924/warren-buffett-letter-to-shareholders/","keywords":["Warren Buffett"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta10ea6fa77107f33/69887f6dab6d77382f6a89d8/warren-buffet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Myles Udland / Business Insider"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta10ea6fa77107f33/69887f6dab6d77382f6a89d8/warren-buffet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton And Warren Buffett Highlight Economic Agenda At Organizing Event In Omaha","caption":"Hillary Clinton And Warren Buffett Highlight Economic Agenda At Organizing Event In Omaha","creditText":"Daniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/warren-buffett/","name":"Warren Buffett"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4239924/warren-buffett-letter-to-shareholders/","name":"Warren Buffett Just Attacked the Most Popular Idea in Economics"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Warren Buffett Makes Largest Berkshire Hathaway Purchase","description":"Buffett has acquired Precision Castparts Corp., an aerospace and energy company, in Berkshire Hathaway's largest acquisition ever.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bImANbnD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-10T14:48:25.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bImANbnD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4239924/warren-buffett-letter-to-shareholders/","duration":"PT48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4239924/warren-buffett-letter-to-shareholders/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```