Warren Buffett warns of an ‘unsustainable’ fiscal deficit, US dollar concerns say ‘…really going to hell’

Berkshire Hathaway's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Warren Buffett, highlighted concerns over the long-standing US fiscal deficit in his shareholders' address on Saturday, May 3. Buffett also discussed how investors would likely consider owning currencies other than the US dollar. 

Buffett highlighted how the problem of the fiscal deficit in the United States has never been “fully solved”, and that it is unable to determine whether this situation will prevail for the next two or 20 years in America's future.

“We're operating at a fiscal deficit now that is unsustainable over a very long period of time. We don't know whether that means two years or 20 years ... because there's never been a country like the United States, but you know, this is something can't go on forever,” said Warren Buffett, cited by the news agency Reuters.

The value investor also highlighted that the US fiscal deficit situation is “unsustainable” and it is likely to become uncontrollable at a certain point.

“We are doing something that is unsustainable, and it has the aspect to it that it gets uncontrollable to a certain point,” said Buffett in the shareholders' meeting. 

“I wouldn't want the job trying to correct what's going on…. It's a job I don't want, but it's a job I think should be done,” said Buffett.

Buffett also flagged that if the US government has chosen a way to create this problem, it is likely to drag the nation's currency into the equation.

“We've got a lot of problems always as a country, but this is one we bring on ourselves... If you picked a way to screw it up, it would involve the currency... That's happened a lot of places,” he said. “Right now, we have about a 7% fiscal gap, when probably only 3% is sustainable. The further we stray from sustainability, the closer we get to losing control.”

Without giving out any names from the Trump administration, Buffett urged that trade should not be used as a weapon. This comes amid the ongoing tariff war between the United States and other world nations. 

The Dollar Warning

On the US dollar front, Warren Buffett said that at Berkshire Hathaway, they would not be owning anything (currency) which likely may be “going to hell”. However, looking at the current situation in the United States, he said that there are a lot of other currencies which investors like him own compared to the dollar.

“Obviously we wouldn't want to be owning anything that we thought was in a currency that was really going to hell. There could be... things happen in the United States that... make us want to own a lot of other currencies,” said Buffett in the shareholder meet on May 3, 2025.

According to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Rate Index, the US greenback was trading 0.22 per cent lower at 100.03 as of 12:00 a.m. (EDT). As per the data, the dollar hit an intraday low of 99.397 on May 3. 

DOGE

When asked about DOGE, Warren Buffett highlighted how bureaucracy is prominent and contagious. He also mentioned how big corporations look like they could be run better than they are currently. 

“I think that bureaucracy is something that is amazingly prominent and contagious... and big corporations... overwhelmingly, most of them look like they could be run better,” said Warren Buffett when asked about his take on DOGE.

DOGE is the abbreviation of Department of Government Efficiency, which was started by tech billionaire Elon Musk and the Trump administration. However, this is not an official government department, but is an advisory body to the government.

The advisory body aims to improve the efficiency of the US government, and the entity seeks to finish its work by July 2026, according to a BBC report.