主题： Politics and Current Events

Whatever the downsides may be, strong and immediate action by government was essential last year if the financial system was to avoid a total breakdown. Had one occurred, the consequences for every area of our economy would have been cataclysmic. Like it or not, the inhabitants of Wall Street, Main Street, and the various Side Streets of America were all in the same boat.

There will be an element in the United States or in other countries that resists the idea of more trade between countries. I am in exactly the opposite camp and believe that we will prosper as we do more and more business with each other. Various countries have various advantages and no country can do all things themselves. As world trade expands it will mean a better life for people around the world.

The benefits of free trade are diffused over 320 million people. You buy your shoes a little cheaper; you buy your underwear a little cheaper, because of free trade. But the penalties to the person involved, the steel worker in Ohio or the textile worker in Massachusetts are very, very extreme…. I think that we need to have free trade and we have to have policies that moderate and hopefully even cure the damage that are done to the lives of people who are perfectly decent citizens, who’ve spent their life in one trade and at 55, they’re not going to be able to retrain for something else very well.

I don’t read economic forecasts. I don’t read the funny papers. We have never either bought a business or not bought a business because of any macro feeling of any kind. We don’t read predictions about interest rates or business or anything like that because it doesn’t make any difference. I mean let’s say in 1972 when we bought See’s Candy—I think maybe Nixon put on the price controls a little bit later. Let’s say we’d seen that, but so what? We’d have missed the chance to buy something for $25 million that’s earning $60 million pre-tax now. We don’t want to pass up the chance to do something intelligent because of some prediction about something that we’re no good on anyway.

Even in a rich family they may argue about who gets most of the income, and I am sure they do. We have a very rich family in the United States. The old would want more, the young would want more, the people who are in their productive years would like to give less to those who aren’t. The pie will never be big enough to take care of everyone’s desires.

We were promised that a rising tide would lift all boats. A rising tide has lifted all yachts. In my mind, the country’s economic policies should have two main objectives. First, we should wish, in our rich society, for every person who is willing to work to receive income that will provide him or her a decent lifestyle. Second, any plan to do that should not distort our market system, the key element required for growth and prosperity.

If you look back on the 19th century, we had seven great bank panics. If you look back at the 20th century, we had the Great Depression and world wars and flu epidemics. This country doesn’t avoid problems. It just solves them.

I do think it’s very important that business be a handmaiden of government. Business has done wonderful things for America, and America has done wonderful things for business. I think that’s a podium that we should have. We will be the economic leader, and we should be the moral leader. We should stand for more than the fact that we’re the wealthiest country. All my life I’ve heard people talk about how terrible things are. You know, you’re hearing it in the political campaign now. You know, “Make America great again.” America’s great now, it’s never been greater. It’s ridiculous.

[Donald trump] says, “No one knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” Well la-di-da, you know! I mean, this is—only he can fix it! I didn’t really realize we were in such grave danger. I mean, there’s 325 million Americans, and if this guy leaves for Canada, it’s supposed to be hopeless for the rest of us.

[Trump hotels and Casino Resorts] loses money every year, every single year. [Trump] takes out $44 million in compensation during that period. In 1995, when he offered this company, if a monkey had thrown a dart at the stock page, the monkey on average would have made 150 percent. But the people that believed in [Trump], that listened to his siren song, came away losing well over 90 cents on the dollar. They got back less than a dime.