Buffett, Gates tell students worst is behind us

NEW YORK: Capitalism is still alive and well, say the world's two richest men, despite lingering shocks from the longest, deepest recession since the Great Depression.

``The financial panic is behind us,'' said famed investor Warren Buffett, who recently made what he called an ``all-in wager'' on the US economy by acquiring railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe. ``The bottom has come in stocks. Don't pass on something that's attractive today.''

Sitting facing each other in an auditorium filled with nearly 1,000 cheering people at Columbia University in New York, Buffett, CEO of investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates fielded questions from Columbia Business School students on the recession, investing, mentors and what's the next Microsoft.

There were at first reassurances that the US economy had not collapsed since the last time the two sat in front of a student audience, in Nebraska in 2005. ``We proved that we can make mistakes,'' said Gates. ``The fundamentals of this system ... that's continued.'' Even in the country's ``darkest hour,'' he said, American businesses were still innovating.



``Last fall was really blindsiding,'' Buffett said later. Still, ``I did not worry about the overall survival of our economy.'' The two endeared themselves to the audience with tips. Buffett exhorted students to ``marry the right person'' and said, ``The worst investment you can have is cash.''

Gates, meanwhile, said he sees big opportunities in environmentally friendly energy and medicine.

``Capitalism is great,'' he said. Gates wore a suit and tie, flashing the inner red lining of his jacket as he walked to his chair. Buffett, who earned a master's degree from Columbia in 1951, wore a sweater with the Columbia insignia.

Students in the audience said they were glad the two were so confident about the economy. ``That probably weighs a lot to a lot of people to hear Buffett say we're out of the crisis,'' said Andrea Basche, an Earth Institute student at Columbia.