mr. warren buffett when it comes to investing.u got to know your strength and you got to know your weaknesses. that said, i wouldn't take ping-pong lessons from mr. buffett. take a look here. here is another thing i wouldn't do. i wouldn't listen to the oracle of omaha on this. >> ♪ i've been working on the railroad all the live long day ♪ ♪ i've been working on the railroad just to pass the time away ♪ ♪ dinah won't you blow ♪ dinah won't you blow your horn ♪ [ laughter ] >> eric: so now warren buffett wants to weigh in on taxes. politics and americans need to hand over more of our dough. mr. buffett, oh, sage one. put down the ping-pong paddle and the ukulele and the tax plan. the gift is with profit margins, ebidah. the man, fantastic investor, but he is suggesting a minimum tax, to raise etch's wealth. wealthy people's taxes to trickle down to everywhere else. i can't imagine the economy can handle that. >> dana: i have very little patience for the extremely rich who want to make it harder for other people to get where they ar

mr. buffett said he thinks mr.imon could be the "best person for the job" after treasury secretary timothy geithner steps down. mr. buffett notes that dimon could deftly handle another financial crisis, even though jp morgan was forced to take a government bailout during the financial crisis and dimon came under question earlier this year, when the bank lost 6 billion dollars in a trading blunder. cyber monday could almost be re- named "mobile monday." a growing number of consumers used their smartphones and tablets to shop on cyber monday this year. it contributed to an overall bump in sales of 30% from last year. comscore is estimating that sales will reach a whopping 1.5 billion dollars. amazon's kindle fire was the day's most searched-for gift on the web. others that were high in demand were uggs, ipads, the ipod touch, legos, and the wii. some consumers did not get what they bargained for this cyber monday. 132 websites in the u.s. and europe were shut down after allegedly selling counterfeit goods such as jer

mr. buffett's bet. is theory we cooked upstairs in the story meeting putting all the pieces together. do you see anything wrong with it? do you see any other reasons why he would buy the pieces separately and put them together? >> no. i think the one great cloud on the horizon is the fiscal cliff includes repeal or lapsing of the mortgage debt forgiveness act which bush enacted which give as pass to homeowners who get debt forgiven on short sales. that will go away. the short sales are one in for for or one in three of every sale. if the lawmakers don't make a deal, boehner or obama don't make a deal, that could crimp short sales and decrease supply and put downward pressure. melissa: stephen, thanks for joining us. it is a daring heist that could make bonnie & clyde proud. how everything from motorcycles to axes used in a multimillion-dollar mall robbery. have you seen this video? it's crazy. you can never have too much money. apparently that's what these guys think. ♪ . in. melissa: and time for spare

mr. buffett, can i come to omaha and talk to you. >> right. >> rose: and you're pretty quick on the drawto figure out whether or not you want to go forward. >> five or ten seconds, yes. (laughter) >> rose: talk about that. because merge herbs is -- >> he does make up his mind in literally minutes if not seconds as to whether this is something he wants to consider further. and he will within that much time say to the guy on the other end of the phone, "well, i'm interested." or, "well, i don't think this is for us." and he knows. he's seen this great universe of companies and this is what i'm talking about. he brings this frame of reference to it and knows that this company has nothing of kind of eternal nature to offer. like coca-cola has something eternal to offer. >> rose: you also get in this book about biggest mistakes, right? >> i do. >> rose: what's the biggest mistake this guy has made? >> well, warren himself would say that there are acts of omission where he has known that he should buy a stock and hasn't bought it. one that he cited there is fannie mae. this is before fannie ma

mr. buffett another trillion in tax cuts that we don't need. >> ana marie following the constitutional powers of the presidency, the only interesting question to ask a question is what will you veto, and to put it in a yes or know form like that reporter wisely did. that is the only reason the legislators listen to the president. he says if you do that i'll veto it. >> that is the balance of power. that is the thing that balances power with the legislature. it seems like a small thing, but it's a huge hammer. and i was thinking this is a case of like you know what you said you're going to do this, we're all going to do this. what patty murray and the president are asking, all right, everyone, let's walk towards that cliff. they're willing to keep walking until republicans finally say fine, i think we'll do something about it. i hope they're not going to chicken out. it's impossible to think of a solution. i don't know what it is -- the thing also grover norquist won't be relevant anymore. it's never been relevant. i just hope it will be the end of that pledge entirely. >> it may break it. >>

mr. buffett said so long as my managers the numbers as they see fit.it's indicative of the callousness going on, where we don't have that one or so focus on profit you could have a company go and say please die. >> host: but when we talked in your book about some of these industries being deregulated and certain the presidential campaign they talk about regulation in terms of democrats versus republican issues. but for more of these flaws, more of the problems created because of democrats or is this not a party related issue? >> guest: there's one party in washington and the state cap will come of the party money. frankly if you are ever elected to congress, we have to behave like every member of congress says because they want to get reelected, which means that to listen to people who provide money to pay for campaigns restaurant office and it's not going to be mary smith. it's going to be representatives of big corporations and wealthy individuals who just a little change here to be fair. but they want to do is on level the playing field and support

mr. buffett at offthecuff.cnbc.com.the number. >>> the antivirus software company mack fee was swallowed up by intel but the founder of mcafee may get swallowed up by the law. jon fortt live in slows. jon? >> yeah, strange case. john mcafee no longer has any involvement with that company which intel bought for nearly $8 billion a while back. he's apparently wanted for questioning in a murder case in belize, this according to gizmoto. victim's name was gregory fall. 52 years old. mcafee himself is 67 years old. police authorities arrested mcafee on firearms charges back in may. he's a controversial figure. there have been rumors about him engaging in drug activities that gizmoto reported based on things he's posted on message boards. these charges of course quite serious. again, he's no longer associated with mcafee security company which was purchased by intel but this is quite a puzzling and troubling case. sue? >> indeed it is, jon. thank you very much. >>> time for the power rundown with bob pisani and john carney. g

mr. buffett, will forever pursue investment opportunities.o he's calling for a minimum tax on millionaires and billionaires. will republicans listen? >> well, it's a sensible way. if we're going to have a deal, we will have to see some kind of compromise. a minimum tax on people making over $1 million a year can generate a half it trillion in a ten-year scale. if you include deductions you don't necessarily have to go to 39%. you can go to 37% if you are looking for compromise. but i think there's a bigger issue here as well, and that is the idea this is a slightly critical towards the democrats, the biggest issue that this country faces right now is getting us back to 4% economic growth, 3% or 4% economic growth and seeing wages increase right now. this whole idea that debt reduction and budget austerity is the pre-eminent issue facing this country is just wrong. as a matter of economics, it's just wrong. there is absolutely no evidence that investors are fleeing our market. there's no evidence there's any inflationary pressure. there's no e

mr. buffett said about his company's? so long as my managers make their numbers, i let them run the bases that they see fit. and it's indicative of the callousness that is going on when we don't have balance and we are so focused on profit that we literally cannot a company go and say, please die. >> host: but when we talk about in your book you talked a lot about some of these industries have been deregulated. often people think about regulation in terms of the democrat versus republican issue. but were more of these, or more of the problems created because of democrats are because of republicans, or is this not a party related issue? >> guest: there is one part in washington. it's the of money. there's one part in the state capital. it's the party of money but if you or i were elected to congress would have to be like every member cost of because if we want to get reelected which means that you listen to people who will provide the money to pay for the campaigns for us to run for office. it's not going to be joe sixpack

mr. buffett does not mention is that, on average, very few americans actually pay their official tax rateright. we're going to get into this a lot more on "street signs." people can read it on cnbc.com today. the other important point to make on this, it is just not a lot of money and it is not a lot of people. it is sort of a minor problem in the grand scheme of the economy. it is really about .1% of the taxpayers and it's maybe $5 billion to $10 billion a year. relative to a $1 trillion deficit -- not saying it's nothing, but it's just such a tiny amount -- >> people at his income level are paying that. >> i have to say, if we're going to have a big tax debate, let's have one that really matters, now about this warren buffett rule which won't raise enough revenue to make a dime's worth of difference whether it comes to the federal budget. let's figure out what do we want to use our tax code for and what do we have to change to make it do that. >> let's move on to the next one which would put you in -- give you a real tax problem here. the powerball jackpot set for a record $425 million

mr. buffett wants to complain about not paying enough taxes and why doesn't he just shut up and write a checke taxes? anyway, got sidetracked. bitingly, the way we overcame adversity and we went to overcome adversity now, and we are faced with some adverse conditions in the united states, unemployment the eye turned 50 this year, and in my lifetime i've never seen unemployment like this but i do think people look for a job. i employed the people at my clinic and i bet i get 15-20 resumes a week for overqualified people looking for a job. those are scary times. we are living in some adverse times. and on top of that we've got all this big dent in everything. and as corny as this sounds, let me take this, teamwork is the way we get out of debt. not us against them, not them against us to the democrats and republicans, how do we begin to this point in a country where you either had to be a democrat or he had to be a republican? you have to believe all of what these people think, or you have to believe all of what these people thing. you can't take it in slices. i kind of little bit of what you t

mr. buffett is completely correct. we need higher taxes.than the one contemplated in the fiscal cliff. i would be extremely worried about the cuts in defense. we live in an extremely challenging world. i hate to see the u.s. cut one dollar out of defense when as long as we have enemies like iran and north korea and a rising challenger in china. >> so we're talking about compromise because you mense emd two things that the opposite sides don't really want. >> i know. >> solvable, quote, i'm confident it can be done, i recognize we will have to compromise, period. the operative word, compromise. are we going to see that this go-round? >> i'm not sure we'll see it this go-round. we might have to go over the fiscal cliff for a while. even with the fiscal cliff, we're still going to have a budget deficit next year of -- on the order, very rough order of $500 billion, one of the five largest budget deficits of all time. so we obviously got to go even farther than the fiscal cliff in terms of raising taxes. i hate it. i hate paying taxes. i'm like

mr. buffett had in his op-ed piece. put it on the screen. i will read it., which is what this hit's about. but the reform of such complexities should not promote delay in our correcting simple and expensive inequities. we can't let those who want to protect the privileged get away with insisting that we do nothing until we can do everything. i agree. dodd/frank in two weeks is going to be two years old. the volcker rule continues to be unwritten. jamie dimon said a third of the entire thing is written. two-thirds aren't. my issue here is, if people are going to break their promise, do it for a very good reason. the reason needs to be guaranteed reform! because you know what? reform is always the road less traveled. a quickie deal, you know what a quickie deal means? that reform stuff, we'll get to it. right around the time we finish dodd/frank. back to you. >> we keep talking about kicking the can. a framework. a lot more from you later on. rand paul in a couple minutes, too. >>> not all retail getting beaten down today. over to mary thompson for a quick ma

mr. buffett lost a couple can billion dollars. paper in, paper out. >> right, right.and i were heading with 50 other people down to a meeting in williamsburg in 1987 just as that happened. and the next morning these 50 people met and there was almost no conversation about that. very pleasant. almost nobody was exorcised. a couple people but not much. >> no jumping out of windows? >> no jumping out of windows. absolutely not. >> we had a program plan that went exactly as planned for a few days. the truth is, when stocks go down, i don't rejoice at other people's misfortunes, but the chance to buy them cheaper appeals to me. >> and, if i can also go back to you, a lot of people needed your help after september 15, 2008. you went in and made some investments. i would guess those turned out well for you. >> we spent $16 billion in three weeks. america was not going to disappear. it was panic. no question about it. and we were -- the dominoes were toppling and everything. >> you had confidence in america. >> sure. >> i remember mika and i went over, i forget where it was,

mr. buffett. "squawk" will be back after a quick break. >>> time now for today's aflac trivia question.g christmas single of all time? the answer when cnbc's "squawk box" continues. hope i don't miss work this christmas. yeah, how will you pay for things like food... electricity? dental bills... gazooks. you need a back-up plan. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho. that's why we have aflac! so i'll have cash to help pay bills! great...but what if you're still not better by christmas? hmm... afllaaccccccccc!!!!!!! [ male announcer ] aflac. we've got you under our wing. rudolph's better... but now blitzen's sick! or that printing in color had to cost a fortune. nobody said an all-in-one had to be bulky. or that you had to print from your desk. at least, nobody said it to us. introducing the business smart inkjet all-in-one series from brother. easy to use. it's the ultimate combination of speed, small size, and low-cost printing. i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night.

i think that warren buffett certainly understands that. you know what mr.fet, 01: if you want to add in more why not make this something of choice. if you feel like you can help, go ahead. put some extra money in. >> that's completely -- look, nobody has any guns to anybody's head. we have a common problem. it's called a budget deficit, particularly in out years. we have some common responsibilities and when you do consider that the wealthy in this country are taking home between 20% and 25% of total income, total wealth of this country, we haven't seen this degree of concentrated income and wealth in 80 years. if i may just finish my thought for just a second. >> i'm afraid i have to jump in. >> the effective tax rate is lower than it's been in 50 years. >> we've run out of time. the good news is, that was a terrific debate. we've got 35 days left. i will bring you both back and we will carry it on. thank you both very much. >> thanks very much. >>> coming up, america's pastor rick warren joins me live to talk politics, faith, same sex marriage and much mo

billionaire investor warren buffett told cnn there is nobody better qualified than mrs. president in 2016. "i like what she believes in. i think she's extraordinarily able and energetic in pushing those beliefs." and buffett is just the latest to talk about a potential hillary clinton run for the white house in years. he joins people like bill clinton, nancy pelosi, ed rendell, new york senator jill brand and republicans talking about it. google hillary clinton 2016 you get more than five million hits. for her part, mrs. clinton insists the answer's no. she's finishing her term as secretary of state. leave as one of the most popular members of the obama administration. clinton talks about how she's been in the political spotlight for 20 years. and she wants her life back. fair enough. says she wants to sleep, relax. okay. but what about after that? while hillary clinton has repeatedly said she won't run for president again, this is the same woman who says politics is in her dna. she is after all a clinton. and with a resume that includes secretary of state, senator, first

carol lummis has covered warren buffett for "fortune" magazine for decades. welcome back, mr.ent back and looked at 80 or more articles written on this guy. you've known him for years and years. did you learn something looking back? >> you know, i did because i saw a great arc of his business life. the book is basically a business biography, and i just learned -- i think maybe the most important thing i learned is how consistent he's been in his thinking. he's never changed. >> i didn't put this to any kind of a computer test. i haven't fed this in to get the numbers. you know the word that i think probably comes up more than any other to describe his style of investing rational. >> rational. >> is that the key to his success? >> it absolutely, is and it's the un-key to most people's success. they just can't do it. they get very emotional about investing. >> people have used the word rational to describe me, too, but not in glowing terms. you know what i often think they mean. i think they mean boring. >> in my case they do, i don't know about you, matt. >> is perhaps part of

mr. obama will hit the road to mobilize public support. just like the last, same speeches over and over. >> you saw warren buffett this morning. >> some interesting points. he had an alternative minimum tax he had been talking about for the really wealthy. >> 30% or something. >> anybody from 1 to $10 million. also talked a little bit about raising the -- >> same thing he's been saying all along. >> he added that when it comes to who should be paying the higher taxes, he wants the threshold to be $500,000. >> and you see steven rattner on on talking about capital gains, deductions and things you've talked about a lot. >> time for the global markets report. ross westgate totally still confuse aed about thanksgiving and pilgrims. what was all the hoopla about? you celebrate boxing or something, don't you? like we lost a great boxer. is that what you celebrate? what is boxing day? >> boxing day, the day of a christmas. >> you wrap all your presents in boxes? >> i think it's something to do with all the presents. i'm not quite sure. >> yeah, put them in boxes. >> maybe. >> so you ignored our thanksgiving. but feeling okay again? >> yeah. you know, it