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In spite of all of the very intense political fighting taking place over the fiscal cliff, Warren Buffett is very optimistic that our nation will fix its overall debt problem soon.

During an interview that he gave on BBC Radio 4’s program named Today, Warren Buffett said: “in the end, 535 people in Washington will not thwart the wishes of 312 million Americans.”

“The United States is richer than it’s ever been. We have $50,000 or so of GDP per person. But we’ve overpromised and we’ve also undertaxed to some extent, so we find ourselves with this great fiscal imbalance. But it was man made. We’re a rich country. It can be solved. … We’ll be able to overcome this problem. America has faced a lot tougher problems than this one. We’ll get it solved.”

Warren Buffett also had a conversation with Melinda Gates, who as I’m sure you know, is married to Bill Gates – friend of Warren Buffett. He’s also the chairman of Microsoft. Warren Buffett also gave a pledge to give most of his fortune to the Gates Foundation. “We have a great history of philanthropy, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have the capacity to do a whole lot more.”

He also spoke with Melinda Gates about the topic of needing to get more women into leadership positions in this country:

“What a waste of human talent. Fifty percent of the talent of the country we’ve pushed off in the corner for almost 200 years. No Supreme Court justice was a woman. Believe me, I’ll take Sandra Day O’Connor or Ruth Ginsburg. It was a shame to not be utilizing that talent. One of the things that makes me so optimistic about the future, when I see how far we’ve come only using half the talent in the country. And now I realize we’re getting to the point, we’re starting to use 100 percent of our talent. It makes me very optimistic. But we still have a ways to go.”

Warren Buffett holds a firm belief that women are going to save the US economy.

He recently gave an interview with Melinda Gates on BBC, where the 82-year-old billionaire reiterated that he’s very optimistic that the US is going to survive the fiscal cliff, and that the talents of many women are being underutilized, but when they are used they will help right the economy and America will again thrive.

“Fifty per cent of the talent in the country, we’ve pushed off in the corner for almost 200 years,” said Buffett. “Now that we’re . . . starting to use 100 per cent of our talent, it makes me very optimistic.”

Mister Buffett also added that the US was not quite where it needs to be as far as gender equality is concerned, but there have been incredible gains since he was a little boy with his two sisters during the 1930s.

“The hope was that they would marry well. The hope with me was that I would fulfill my potential, whatever it might be,” Buffett said.

“I saw two human beings with enormous potential and it was just assumed that they could be a nurse, they could be a secretary, they could be a flight attendant . . . What a waste of human talent.”

Melinda Gates is also an advocate of women’s rights, as well as a philanthropist, where she interviewed Warren Buffett as a guest editor on the radio program from the BBC called Today. Warren Buffett is the third richest man in the world, and has also supported an initiative for global access to contraception.

“Women have been subjugated for time immemorial and only recently have they started achieving control over their bodies,” he said. “I think it’s enormously important that a woman have a real say in family planning.”

The Oracle of Omaha, a very wealthy investor as you all know, reiterated that he is confident that a deal would be made with all of the US legislators to avoid the “fiscal cliff” crisis.

“Each party would like to have any decrease in expenditures or increase in taxes blamed on the other party . . . In the end, 535 people in Washington will not thwart the wishes of 312 million Americans.”

He then tells us that the United States has more money than it has ever had, with a GDP per capita of nearly $50,000, but the country has undertaxed and overpromised.

“We’ll be able to overcome this problem. America’s faced a lot tougher problems than this one and we’ll get it solved.”

Warren Buffett did things his way in order to make $50 billion, and it was very consistent that during The Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy which was held at the main branch of the New York Public Library, instead of taking a book out of the building, Warren Buffett actually brought one in. He specifically brought in a well-worn printing of the hardcover book named I Remember, which is the autobiography of a gentleman named Abraham Flexner and it was written in 1940. Most modern philanthropists have never even heard of this person.

While flipping through the pages of the autobiography that Warren Buffett read nearly 50 years ago, he mentions that “Abraham Flexner probably influenced philanthropy as much as any individual in the country. Not in terms of the money he used but of what he brought to the game.”

This native of Louisville Kentucky was first brought into the public eye in the year 1908 for writing the book The American College. The book actually condemned higher education because it relied upon lectures instead of hands-on teaching and smaller classes. Andrew Carnegie was quite attracted to Abraham’s analysis of higher education, particularly because he really wanted there to be reforms in medical schools.

In 1910, the Carnegie Foundation published a document known as “The Flexner Report,” and this report actually set national standards for the training of physicians. “He was not a doctor,” said Warren Buffett. “He just was smart and straight thinking. And after he worked for a couple of years for Carnegie to do this, half of the medical schools closed. I mean, he actually changed medical education.” Abraham Flexner also made a major impact during the year 1930, when being backed by Louis Bamberger, with Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, in which he recruited individuals like J. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein.

Buffett also said “I’ve studied what both the people with the money do and the people who were implementing the ideas of the people with the money. And it had an influence on me very early.”

Now that we know there was a long-term influence in Warren Buffett’s life, we are no longer mystified by his philanthropic philosophy and desire to donate so much of his money. Also, if you are curious as to why Warren Buffett is ready to outsource his philanthropy to Melinda and Bill Gates, then you don’t have to look any further than Flexner.

“Carnegie did not go out and visit all of these medical schools himself,” said Warren Buffett. “He got Flexner to do it. George Eastman wanted to start a great medical school in Rochester, and he didn’t know how to do it. He called up Flexner and said, ‘Tell me how to do it.’ And it was the same way with the Bambergers. So I believe in getting things done through other people.”

You can also look at Flexner’s influence to explain why Warren Buffett wants his fortune to be put into action within 10 years of his death. Mr. Buffett remembers a New York Times editorial about Flexner that he read in 1959 at the time of his death. This editorial ended by stating that “no other American of his time has contributed more to the welfare of this country and of humanity in general.” Warren Buffett has now set himself up to inject the largest amount of cash into philanthropy, and people are going to sing his praises the same way that they sang the praises of Abraham Flexner.

It’s practically common knowledge that Warren Buffett, billionaire investor, plans to donate the majority of his wealth to various charities before he passes on. So it should come as no surprise to you that he just donated $1.52 billion as part of his annual gift to the Gates Foundation. The foundation was created by Bill Gates, who is cofounder of Microsoft Corp.

Warren Buffett is the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which is his Omaha-based investment firm. There was also a donation made of 18.4 million in the form of Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B shares. This donation went to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. There was a filing on Friday which proves this to be true. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B stock closed at $82.54 last Friday in New York City.

Warren Buffett is also a trustee of the Gates Foundation, as well as being the third richest man in the world. His current net worth is in the neighborhood of $46 billion. This information was gathered according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s index, which is a daily ranking of the wealthiest people around the world. Mr. Buffett has also campaigned quite extensively to promote giving charitably.

“I urge people to unbutton their wallet, pull out a check, reach into their purse, whatever it takes,” said the 81 year old Buffett in a YouTube video that he put out last year. “You will find that when you give a dollar and something of yourself, a lot more than a dollar comes out the other end.”

In 2006, Warren Buffett shared his plans with the world which amounts to him donating 10 million Class B shares to the Gates Foundation. The initial gift he presented them was in the amount of 500,000 shares. He will also release the remaining shares of his donation 5% at a time on an annual basis. Each donation will be less shares then presented to the foundation the year before.

Warren Buffett wasn’t concerned about presenting the foundation with less shares each year because he stated that the shares will rise “in an irregular manner, by an amount that more than compensates for the decline in the number of shares that will be distributed.” There was already a 50 to 1 split of the Class B shares in 2010.