Buffett's Big Muni Bond Offer: CNBC Interview Transcript

This morning on CNBC's Squawk Box, Warren Buffett publicly revealed for the first time that he has offered to reinsure $800 billion in municipal bonds now covered by the troubled insurers MBIA, Ambac and FGIC.

That would effectively give those bonds a AAA credit rating. So far, he says one insurer has turned him down and he hasn't heard from the other two.

This is a transcript of this morning's live phone conversation:

Interview Transcript (Part 1)

Interview Transcript (Part 2)

Ajit Jain's Letter

A Regulator Not Stymied by Red Tape

Shortly before Thanksgiving, Eric R. Dinallo, the insurance regulator for New York State, did something unusual. He called Warren E. Buffett’s right-hand man on insurance, Ajit Jain, and suggested that he start a new company to insure municipal bonds in New York.

Mr. Jain, who oversees one of the biggest insurance portfolios in the business at a subsidiary of Mr. Buffett’s holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, was surprised. He had never heard from an insurance regulator offering a new business idea.

“I thought, gee, I wonder what he’s calling to complain about,” Mr. Jain said in an interview on Tuesday.

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