Warren Buffett made a bold claim on CNBC in 2011 that he could fix the U.S. deficit in five minutes by making politicians personally accountable for their spending habits. His idea was to pass a law that would make sitting members of Congress ineligible for re-election if the deficit exceeded 3% of GDP.
Buffett argued that politicians don’t address the deficit because there is no real incentive for them to do so. He suggested an alternative threat: “If you guys can’t get it done, we’ll get some other guys to get it done.” Nearly 14 years later, the deficit has ballooned from $14.3 trillion in 2011 to over $36 trillion, with a projected annual deficit of $2.84 trillion.
In recent months, President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have teamed up to launch the Department of Government Efficiency, aiming to trim federal spending by up to $2 trillion by July 2026. The initiative has already reported savings of $55 billion from programs under agencies like USAID and the Department of Health and Human Services.
However, not everyone is convinced that Trump’s plan will succeed. Some conservatives praise the aggressive cost-cutting, while others argue that major entitlement programs remain untouched. Buffett’s idea, which relied on a loophole in Article V of the U.S. Constitution to bypass Congressional approval, was deemed unlikely to pass even at the time.
Despite this, Washington continues to kick the debt problem down the road, and politicians continue to avoid real consequences. Trump’s DOGE initiative is the latest attempt to tackle spending, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to address the growing deficit.
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-said-could-end-233043535.html