

Buffett also told CNBC's Becky Quick that while stocks are "not cheap" now, they're not extreme, either. He says he's waiting for when stocks become "very cheap." He does, however, "find more things to look at now than I did six months or a year ago." The best opportunities he sees right now are in bonds rather than stocks.

Buffett says his offer to guarantee $800 billion dollars in municipal bonds now backed by Ambac , MBIA and FGIC is "not on the table" any longer. "We tossed our hat into the ring, and they tossed it right back."

The big bond insurers soundly rejected the offer Buffett made first made public last month on Squawk Box, saying their prospects would be severly damaged if Buffett took over the relatively solid muni bond guarantees, while not also backing the other very risky investments that threaten the bond insurers' financial footing. Berkshire created its own bond insurance subsidiary late last year.

In response to an email question about why his annual letter to shareholders doesn't mention the bond insurance business, Buffett said he had already written the letter before getting into bond insurance. He expects to have something to say about it at Berkshire's annual meeting in early May.

In his letter to Berkshire shareholders on Friday, Buffett said he had identified four people who could take over making Berkshire's investment decisions, should he reluctantly give up that role.

Today he told Becky that none of those candidates are female, in part because not many women expressed interest in the job. Buffett's current role will be broken apart when he leaves Berkshire. The company had already identified candidates for Buffett's CEO role.

Buffett predicted that while agricultural commodities may not continue to rise, the price of oil will probably go higher because he sees supply as essentially finite while consumption continually grows. While alternative energy efforts will help, he says they are not the "big answer."