OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett saysEurope's debt concerns and the anemic U.S. home constructionbusiness will continue to hurt the economy even though manybusinesses are performing well.

Buffett told CNBC on Monday that the recent leadership changesin Italy and Greece should help, but investors are losingconfidence in the euro. And Buffett said Europe doesn't have anyonewith the authority to take the measures needed to defend thecurrency.

He said stopping a run on a currency is difficult. He said thatwhen the U.S. economy began to contract in late 2008, the FederalReserve and Treasury were willing to do whatever it took to revivebusiness.

Buffett says no one in Europe has comparable authority to theFederal Reserve.

“They have a situation where they found a fundamental flaw inthat they can't print money,” said Buffett, who is chairman and CEOof the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Buffett said much of the American economy is performing well,but any business related to residential home construction continuesto struggle because of the oversupply of homes.

“You have a huge segment of the U.S. economy that's doing quitewell, and you have a segment that's in a depression,” Buffettsaid.

Berkshire owns a variety of roughly 80 businesses, and Buffettuses reports from those companies to gain insight into the economy.He said several of Berkshire's biggest subsidiaries, such asBurlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, will post record years. ButBerkshire's housing-related businesses, like Acme Brick and ShawCarpet, continue to struggle.

But Buffett said he doesn't think the U.S. housing market needsmore government stimulus from either Congress or the FederalReserve. He says what's needed is for more households to be createdand that will happen over time.

“It doesn't solve itself as fast as people like, but it doessolve itself,” Buffett said.

Buffett said he met informally with officials from theSecurities and Exchange Commission in June to answer questionsrelated to Berkshire's $9 billion purchase of specialty chemicalmaker Lubrizol earlier this year.

That deal generated headlines in the spring after it wasrevealed that former Berkshire executive David Sokol had boughtnearly 100,000 Lubrizol shares for about $100 apiece in earlyJanuary, when he knew Lubrizol's board had been discussing apossible Berkshire acquisition. Sokol resigned after disclosing histrades to Berkshire.

Buffett said he and Berkshire officials cooperated with the SEC,but he doesn't know what government investigators are planning.Buffett has called Sokol's actions unethical and inexcusable.

Sokol has denied any wrongdoing in the Lubrizol deal, and hesays he left Berkshire to start his own firm.