(2002-09-26) -- His last name alone can stop the conversation in a trendy New York restaurant, as Wall Street players strain to hear what he might think about the market, or a particular stock.

The name is Buffett, and his latest prognistication is that everything's okay, and it's going to get better.

"I'm really relaxed about the whole situation," Mr. Buffett said, "just nibblin' on spongecake, watching the sun bake all of those tourists covered with oil. Strumming my six-string, on my front porch swing. Smell those shrimp they're beginning to boil."

Reached at his palatial home in Margaritaville, Florida, Mr. Buffett had little to say about the economy, the stock market or the federal reserve. In fact, he seemed to care little about anything but his own life and happiness.

"I'm growing older, but not up," he said. "My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck. Let those winds of time blow over my head I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead "

Asked what he thinks will happen to the market over the next year, Mr. Buffett was equally cryptic.

"It's these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes," he said, "Nothing remains quite the same. With all of our running and all of our cunning. If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane."