Buffett: Recession 'going on for a while'

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. investment icon Warren Buffett says by his "common sense" definition, the United States is still in a recession that will be going on "for a while."

Speaking Thursday on CNBC, Buffett was reacting to a report this week from the National Bureau of Economic Research saying the recession "officially" ended in June 2009.

"Well, they define it differently. We're in a recession until real per capita GDP gets back up to where it was before. That is not the way the National Bureau of Economic Research measures it," Buffett said.

"But I will tell you that to any, on any common sense definition, the average American is below where he was before, or his family, in terms of real income, GDP. We're still in a recession. And, we're not gonna be out of it for a while, but we will get out of it."

Buffett said his approximately 70 businesses are coming back slowly.

"We're 61 percent of the way back up. That's better, I think, than most businesses are in the country."