Buffett on Wall Street's speculative frenzy: The current market is like a church with a casino attached, which could lead to a long-term high in asset prices

According to Gelonghui, Buffett responded in an exclusive interview with CNBC regarding "Berkshire currently holding about $380 billion in cash, and the market is highly concerned about why it has not made large-scale acquisitions or investments": the prices are too high, and there are too few targets.

Buffett stated, "Now is not our ideal environment for deploying cash for Berkshire." He emphasized that the company has the right management team to selectively choose opportunities: "Sometimes we do nothing, but sometimes we are very active."

When discussing the current macro stock market environment, Buffett used the metaphor of "a church with a casino" to describe the speculative atmosphere on Wall Street. People can move between the church and the casino, with more people in the church than in the casino, but the casino has become very attractive to people.

He pointed out, "If you are buying and selling single-day options, that is not investing, nor is it speculation; it is outright gambling." Referring to a recent case where a U.S. soldier used confidential information about military operations in Venezuela to profit $400,000 in the prediction market, he said: unless one knows when we will strike into Venezuela like that person, no one can explain why they would buy a one-day option; the number of such occurrences is astonishing.

We have never encountered a crowd with a greater propensity for 'gambling' than now. Buffett further noted that the surge in gambling enthusiasm does not necessarily mean the market will collapse, but it will lead to a long-term high price for many assets.