“The worst is behind us, but the pain will be felt for a long time from what happened,” Buffett said in remarks played today at a conference outside Tel Aviv. “We’re inching forward, we’re not galloping forward.”

Then, on Disc 2 of his recording, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO continued...

...this time busting out the folksy business wisdom married with abberant sex fetish to say:

"Now, I know this all sounds really bad, and it is. But Uncle Warren wants you to know we're going to get through it. Oh sure, you're saying, 'Uncle Warren' doesn't know real pain or how economic turmoil actually affects people"--unfair. Just because my business and personal finances are doing okay doesn't mean I can't empathize with what others are going through. In fact, I imagine it’s a lot like getting your sack caught in the hog oiler– that has happened to me, several times in fact, owing to both my boyhood farming days and my late stage development into an ag-equipment fetishist. But rest assured, after the weeks of what felt like searing pain, followed by several of blistering, my troops were back to their old selves and the same will be true for you. Soon enough, this our great nation will be happier than a Russ Meyers set when the pasties come off. And believe you me, I’ll be there celebrating with one hand free."