美國要如何應對全球日益騷動的局勢？對這一問題不確定性并未影響沃倫·巴菲特對美國長期——甚至未來100年前景的樂觀態度。

這位伯克希爾·哈撒韋公司的董事長在上周四晚表示：“每當我聽到人們看衰這個國家時，都覺得他們瘋了。”

在紐約當晚慶祝《福布斯》雜志100周年華誕的活動上，巴菲特發表了講話。他也成為了雜志紀念全球百位最偉大在世“商業思想家”特刊的封面人物。

1965年起，在這位億萬富翁的帶領下，伯克希爾從一家失敗的紡織公司變成了一家旗下擁有超過90家企業的大型集團，其業務范圍涉及保險、鐵路、能源和零售等，市值超過千萬美元。

巴菲特稱，他認為道瓊斯工業平均指數會在未來100年內“超過100萬點”，而上周二收盤時，指數只有22,370.80。他表示，考慮到一個世紀以前指數僅有大約81點，這并非不切實際。

不過他知道自己等不到那一天了。

他說：“當我聽到關于活到100歲的討論時，感到很興奮。我87歲了。”

巴菲特表示，他最近發現，美國100歲以上老人共有53,364人，其中女性和男性的比例接近5:1。

他說：“我們應該考慮調整性別比例”，引發了滿堂大笑。

盡管如此，他表示長期投資仍然還有很長的路要走。

巴菲特指出，《福布斯》1982年首次公布美國富人400強的榜單（當時巴菲特的身家只有2.5億美元）以來，上榜者大約有1,500人。

他們有一個共同點。

他說：“你在其中看不到買空型投資者。”他指的是那些認為股價會下跌的人。

巴菲特表示：“托馬斯·杰弗森寫下《獨立宣言》（Declaration of Independence）241年來，看空美國一直都是失敗者的游戲。我可以預測，未來也依然如此。”

《福布斯》的百大商業思想家榜單中有各種背景的人士。

上榜者包括微軟的共同創始人比爾·蓋茨，亞馬遜的創始人杰夫·貝佐斯，Facebook的馬克·扎克伯格和雪莉·桑德伯格，諾貝爾和平獎的獲得者穆罕默德·尤納斯，建筑師弗蘭克·蓋里，媒體名人奧普拉·溫弗瑞和歌手博諾和保羅·麥卡特尼。（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正

Uncertainty about how the United States will cope with growing tumult in the world has not dampened Warren Buffett's optimism for the country's prospects over the long term — even 100 years into the future.

"Whenever I hear people talk pessimistically about this country, I think they're out of their mind," Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (brk.a, -0.34%), said on Tuesday night.

Buffett spoke in New York at an event celebrating the 100th anniversary of Forbes magazine, and is on the cover of an issue featuring 100 of the world's greatest living "business minds."

The billionaire has transformed Berkshire since 1965 from a failing textile company into a conglomerate with more than 90 businesses in such sectors as insurance, railroads, energy and retail, and well over $100 billion of stocks.

Buffett said he expects the Dow Jones Industrial Average to be "over 1 million" in 100 years, up from Tuesday's close of 22,370.80. He said that's not unreasonable, given how the index was roughly 81 a century ago.

But he knows he won't be around to see it happen.

"When I hear talking about making it to 100, I get excited," he said. "I'm 87."

Buffett said he recently determined that of the 53,364 people in the United States who were at least 100 years old, the ratio of women to men was nearly 5-to-1.

"We should start thinking about a sex change," Buffett said, prompting laughter.

Nonetheless, he said long-term investing remains the way to go.

He noted that since Forbes created its first list of the 400 richest Americans in 1982 -- Buffett was worth just $250 million then -- some 1,500 different people have been included.

All with one thing in common.

"You don't see any short sellers," he said, referring to people who bet stock prices will fall.

"It has been 241 years since Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence," he said. "Being short America has been a loser's game. I predict to you it will continue to be a loser's game."

Forbes' list of top business minds included people with a variety of backgrounds.

Among them were Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, architect Frank Gehry, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and singers Bono and Paul McCartney.