Buffett: Failure to raise debt ceiling "asinine"

Speaking on Saturday at Berkshire Hathaway's <BRKa.N> annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett said imposing a debt ceiling was a mistake in the first place.

Still, he projected that "the United States was not going to have a debt crisis of any kind as long as we keep issuing our notes in our own currency."

The Obama administration has expressed confidence that Congress will agree to raise the $14.3 trillion cap on how much Washington can borrow before it expires on May 16.

Raising the cap would let the government keep paying its bills. But many Republican lawmakers and some Democrats want any increase to be accompanied by a clear plan to cut spending.

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger attacked the political posturing and rhetoric that he believes Democrats and Republicans have used in the debate, saying both were competing to see "who can be the most stupid."

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; Additional reporting and writing by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Toni Reinhold)