Postcards

How the power players do it - by Fortune senior editor at large Patricia Sellers

Buffett's bet to keep jobs in America

November 4, 2009: 6:56 PM ET

"If you buy a railroad, you can't move it to China or to India or anyplace else. You are betting on the United States. I can't think of a surer bet."

- Warren Buffett, explaining Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKB) $44 billion buyout of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI).

Click here to see Buffett talking about his biggest deal ever with CNNMoney anchor Poppy Harlow.

While the size was a surprise, the bet on America was not. In September, at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, Buffett said he was busy buying stocks and had lots of faith in the U.S. "Our genius in the U.S. is not avoiding problems. It's overcoming problems," he told my colleague Carol Loomis.

Their on-stage conversation--recalling the collapse of Lehman (BCS) and its awful aftermath, and also looking ahead--was terrific. We ran snippets earlier on Postcards. But since Buffett is back in the news, we'll share all 22 minutes:

And if you're curious to know what it's like to work for Buffett, read "How Warren Buffett manages his managers."

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About This Author
Pattie Sellers
Patricia Sellers
Senior Editor at Large, Fortune
Executive Director of MPW/Live Content, Time Inc.

Fortune senior editor at large Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo," "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), and "Remodeling Martha" (Martha Stewart). She has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" package every year since its launch in 1998. Pattie is Executive Director of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business and beyond. She oversees MPW programs that enable women leaders to extend their influence and empower the next generation—such as Fortune MPW Entrepreneurs and the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Beyond her Fortune duties, she is also developing Live Content across Time Inc. Pattie grew up in Allentown, PA, graduated from the University of Virginia, and started at Fortune in 1984. Her blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead, manage others, and navigate their careers.

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