Biden & Musk Trade Verbal Barbs After Tesla Chief’s Reported 'Super Bad Feeling' About US Economy
10:24 GMT 04.06.2022 (Updated: 20:13 GMT 19.10.2022)
© AP Photo / Hannibal Hanschke
Subscribe
Earlier, Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, claimed that a recession is “actually a good thing”, and “some bankruptcies need to happen”, as he offered his viewpoint on growing speculation of an imminent recession facing the US.
US President Joe Biden and Elon Musk have exchanged verbal blows over their perception of the state of the US economy.
Biden reacted sarcastically to the tech mogul’s reported remark that he had a “super bad feeling” that the US was “probably” heading towards recession.
“Well, let me tell you, while Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly”, Biden said on Friday, while glancing at a notecard taken from his jacket pocket.
“Ford is increasing their investment and building new electric vehicles, 6,000 new employees ― union employees, I might add ― in the Midwest. The former Chrysler Corporation, Stellantis, they are also making similar investments in electric vehicles. Intel is adding 20,000 new jobs making computer chips”, the president continued during a weekend trip to his Delaware home.
He then proceeded to take a jab at Musk’s SpaceX company’s upcoming mission, quipping:
“Lots of luck on his trip to the moon”.
In response, Elon Musk went on Twitter to write, “Thanks, Mr. President!” he added a link to a 2021 NASA press release about SpaceX winning a $2.89 billion contract to send the next American astronauts to the Moon in preparation for an eventual trip to Mars.
Thanks Mr President!https://t.co/dCcTQLsJTp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2022
The traded barbs followed a report that the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. had such a “super bad feeling” about the US economy under the Democratic POTUS that he planned to lay off about 10% of the workers at his electric car company.
4 June 2022, 09:48 GMT
On Friday, Reuters cited obtained emails showing that the billionaire told Tesla executives on 2 June to “pause all hiring worldwide”. Furthermore, in a follow-up email, Musk said the company would slash those on its payroll by 10%, because it is “overstaffed in many areas”, according to Reuters.
“Note, this does not apply to anyone actually building cars, battery packs or installing solar”, Musk reportedly added.
The reported emails followed warnings from Elon Musk that the US faced the risk of a recession.
During a live-streamed appearance at the All-In Summit in Miami Beach, Elon Musk suggested that the US economy was “probably” in a recession, adding it might be “tough-going for, I don’t know, a year, maybe 12-18 months”.
Yes, but this is actually a good thing. It has been raining money on fools for too long. Some bankruptcies need to happen.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 27, 2022
Also, all the Covid stay-at-home stuff has tricked people into thinking that you don’t actually need to work hard. Rude awakening inbound!
He also responded to questions from Twitter users about rampant recession fears in the US, tweeting that it might be “actually a good thing”, and “some bankruptcies need to happen”.
27 May 2022, 07:54 GMT
The world's richest man, who in April opted to buy Twitter for an estimated $44 billion, also enraged some progressives by revealing his voting plans in an interview on 16 May.
He claimed he could no longer support the Democrats “because they have become the party of division & hate”.
He also offered up some scathing criticism of the 46th POTUS, saying, “It’s hard to tell what Biden’s doing, to be totally frank. The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter”.
