Warren Buffett claimed he could end America’s deficit crisis ‘in five minutes’ — but would his solution actually work?

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America's deficit crisis continues to be in the headlines, but the country's most famous investor offered a solution to the problem nearly 15 years ago.

In 2011, Warren Buffett told CNBC's Becky Quick that the crisis could be resolved relatively quickly (1).

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"I could end the deficit in five minutes," he said. "You just pass a law that says that any time there's a deficit of more than three percent of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for reelection. Yeah, yeah, now you've got the incentives in the right place, right?"

But the President and lawmakers in Congress seem to have plenty of incentives to move in the other direction, and that could have long-term consequences on your personal finances. Here's why.

During the 2024 election campaign, Donald Trump presented himself as a fiscal disciplinarian, according to MS Now (2).

"In the near future, I want to do what has not been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget," he told Congress in 2025 (3).

Fast-forward to today, and the Trump administration's policies have actually broadened the deficit. Tax cuts have reduced revenue, while the military budget has expanded. The administration has requested a defense budget increase to $1.5 trillion in fiscal 2027 (4) — that's a 42% uptick compared to 2026's budget.

The federal budget deficit is currently on track to hit $1.9 trillion in fiscal 2026, which is 5.8% of the nation's GDP, according to the Congressional Budget Office (5). That's nearly double the GDP ratio Buffett said should make lawmakers ineligible for reelection.

Every annual deficit adds another layer to a cumulative debt pile that's already at historical highs. The U.S. national debt just surpassed $40 trillion (6), which is larger than the annual GDP of over $31 trillion, according to NPR (7). This is the first time the national debt has crossed 100% of national GDP since the end of World War II.

"We're operating at a fiscal deficit now that is unsustainable over a very long period of time," Buffett said during Berkshire Hathaway's 2025 annual shareholder meeting (8) We don't know whether that means two years or 20 years, because there's never been a country like the United States.