We've used up a lot of bullets. And we talk about stimulus. But

The oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, spoke with clarity and gravity when he declared: “We’ve used up a lot of bullets. And we talk about stimulus. But the truth is, we’re running a federal deficit that’s 9 percent of GDP. That is stimulative as all get out. It’s more stimulative than any policy we’ve followed since World War II.” Behind these words lies the recognition that nations, like men, cannot forever spend what they do not have without consequence. The metaphor of “bullets” reveals the truth that economic tools, like weapons in battle, are finite. Once they are fired, they cannot easily be recalled.

To speak of stimulus is to speak of the effort of governments to revive their people in times of hardship. In the wake of financial collapse, recessions, or crises, rulers have sought to spend boldly, pouring treasure into the marketplace to keep the wheels of commerce turning. Yet Buffett warns: this path has limits. The deficit, swelling to nearly a tenth of the nation’s wealth, is itself a massive infusion of energy. It is as though the nation is already at full throttle, drawing power not from stored abundance but from borrowing against the future.

The origin of this warning lies in the years following the great financial crisis of 2008. Banks collapsed, markets trembled, and households faced ruin. To prevent disaster, the United States unleashed vast stimulus, increasing spending, slashing interest rates, and running deficits of historic proportion. Buffett, with the eyes of experience, looked upon this and said: we are already firing the greatest volley of economic bullets since the global struggle of World War II. Do not deceive yourselves into thinking more can be done without cost.

History itself gives proof of his meaning. After World War II, America’s debt soared to levels never before seen, as the government poured resources into the fight against tyranny. That debt, though heavy, was managed by growth, discipline, and sacrifice in the years that followed. But it could not have been borne forever without ruin. In other lands, where governments endlessly spent without reckoning, disaster came. Recall the Weimar Republic, where debts and reckless printing of money led to hyperinflation so severe that a wheelbarrow of notes could not buy a loaf of bread. Buffett’s warning is thus timeless: stimulus must be measured, or it turns from healing medicine into poison.

The lesson for us is not merely about nations, but about the lives of individuals. Each of us, in our own way, has a store of “bullets”—our savings, our energy, our patience, our time. In crisis, we must use them wisely. To spend recklessly, to exhaust ourselves without thought of the morrow, is to court disaster. To use them carefully, to recognize when we are already drawing deeply from the well, is to preserve strength for the battles yet to come.

Buffett’s words remind us also of honesty. It is easy for leaders, and for ourselves, to pretend that more can be done, that infinite resources remain, that new tools can always be found. But truth requires courage: to admit that we have already fired much, and that the task before us is not to find new weapons, but to endure, to heal, to rebuild with what remains. Discipline, not endless expenditure, becomes the safeguard of survival.

Therefore, let this wisdom be passed on: in the affairs of nations and of men, recognize the limits of your bullets, and wield them with care. Be generous, but not reckless. Be bold, but not blind. When times of trial come, let your actions be strong yet measured, always remembering that every choice today echoes into the future. For the true strength of a people is not only in their power to spend or to fight, but in their wisdom to know when the time has come to preserve, to endure, and to prepare for the days beyond the storm.