Buy American. I Am.

                                        By WARREN E. BUFFETT
                                        Published: October 16, 2008

    THE financial world is a mess, both in the United States and abroad. Its problems, moreover, have been leaking into the general economy, and the leaks are now turning into a gusher. In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.

    So ... I’ve been buying American stocks. This is my personal account I’m talking about, in which I previously owned nothing but United States government bonds. (This description leaves aside my Berkshire Hathaway holdings, which are all committed to philanthropy.) If prices keep looking attractive, my non-Berkshire net worth will soon be 100 percent in United States equities.

    Why?

    A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

    Let me be clear on one point: I can’t predict the short-term movements of the stock market. I haven’t the faintest idea as to whether stocks will be higher or lower a month — or a year — from now. What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.

    A little history here: During the Depression, the Dow hit its low, 41, on July 8, 1932. Economic conditions, though, kept deteriorating until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933. By that time, the market had already advanced 30 percent. Or think back to the early days of World War II, when things were going badly for the United States in Europe and the Pacific. The market hit bottom in April 1942, well before Allied fortunes turned. Again, in the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank. In short, bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price.

    Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.

    You might think it would have been impossible for an investor to lose money during a century marked by such an extraordinary gain. But some investors did. The hapless ones bought stocks only when they felt comfort in doing so and then proceeded to sell when the headlines made them queasy.

    Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value. Indeed, the policies that government will follow in its efforts to alleviate the current crisis will probably prove inflationary and therefore accelerate declines in the real value of cash accounts.

    Equities will almost certainly outperform cash over the next decade, probably by a substantial degree. Those investors who cling now to cash are betting they can efficiently time their move away from it later. In waiting for the comfort of good news, they are ignoring Wayne Gretzky’s advice: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.”

    I don’t like to opine on the stock market, and again I emphasize that I have no idea what the market will do in the short term. Nevertheless, I’ll follow the lead of a restaurant that opened in an empty bank building and then advertised: “Put your mouth where your money was.” Today my money and my mouth both say equities.

    无论美国还是世界其他地方，金融市场都是一片混乱。更糟糕的是，金融系统的问题已渗透到整体经济中，并且呈现出井喷式发展。短期内，美国失业率将继续上升，商业活动停滞不前，而媒体的头条也令人心惊胆颤。
    因此……我一直在购买美国股票。我指的是自己的私人账户，之前该账户除了美国政府债券外没有任何资产(这不包括我所持伯克希尔-哈撒维公司的资产，因为这部分资产将全部投入慈善事业)。如果股价价格继续保持吸引力，我的非伯克希尔净资产不久后将100%是美国证券。
　　为什么？
　　我奉行一条简单的信条：别人贪婪时我恐惧，别人恐惧时我贪婪。当前的形势是——恐惧正在蔓延，甚至吓住了经验丰富的投资者。当然，对于竞争力较弱的企业，投资人保持谨慎无可非议。但对于竞争力强的企业，没有必要担心他们的长期前景。这些企业的利润也会时好时坏，但大多数都会在未来5、10或20年内创下新的盈利记录。
　　澄清一点：我无法预计股市的短期波动，对于股票在1个月或1年内的涨跌我不敢妄言。但有一种可能，即在市场恢复信心或经济复苏前，股市会上涨，而且可能是大涨。因此，如果你想等到知更鸟报春，那春天就快结束了。
　　回顾一下历史：在经济大萧条时期，道琼斯指数在1932年7月8日跌至41点的历史新低，到1933年3月弗兰克林·罗斯福(ranklin Roosevelt)总统上任前，经济依然在恶化，但到那时，股市却涨了30%。
　　第二次世界大战初期，美军在欧洲和太平洋遭遇不利。1942年4月，美国股市跌至谷底，当时距离盟军扭转战局还很远。同样，20世纪80年代初，尽管经济继续下滑，通货膨胀加剧，但却是购买股票的最佳时机。简而言之，坏消息是投资者的最好朋友，它能让你以较低代价下注美国的未来。
　　长期而言，股市整体是趋于利好的。20世纪，美国经历了2次世界大战、代价高昂的军事冲突、大萧条、十余次经济衰退和金融危机、石油危机、流行疾病和总统因丑闻而下台等事件，但道指却从66点涨到了11497点。
　　也许有人会认为，在一个持续发展的世纪里，投资者几乎不可能亏钱。但确实有些投资者亏了，因为他们总是在感觉良好时买入，在市场充斥着恐慌时卖出。
　　今天，拥有现金或现金等价物的人可能感觉良好，但他们可能过于乐观了，因为他们选择了一项可怕的长期资产，没有任何回报且肯定会贬值。其实，美国政府的救市政策很可能导致通货膨胀，并加速现金贬值。
　　未来10年，证券的投资回报率肯定要高于现金，也许会高出很多。那些手持现金的投资者还在等待好消息，但他们忘了冰球明星韦恩·格雷茨基(Wayne Gretzky)的忠告：“我总是滑向冰球运动的方向，而不是等冰球到位再追。”
　　我不喜欢对股市进行预测，我再次强调，我对股市的短期行情一无所知。我看到一家开在空荡荡银行大楼里的餐馆打出的广告：“从前你的钱在这里，今天你的嘴在这里。”但今天，我的钱和嘴巴都在股市里。

P.s.
    2008年10月16日，巴菲特在《纽约时报》上发表该文。
    巴菲特私人账户2009年持股情况一览：