President Joe Biden was asked at a new press availability to respond to recently expressed — and seemingly pessimistic — perspectives from billionaire Elon Musk on the economy, and Biden said as follows:
‘Well, let me tell you, while Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly. And I think Ford is increasing investment in 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 for making computer chips. So, you know, lots of luck on [Musk’s] trip to the moon — I mean, I don’t know.’
Check out the moment — highlighted by the anti-Trump and anti-Trumpism group known as The Lincoln Project — below:
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 3, 2022
Musk consistently garners criticism for his petulance. He’s currently in the process of working through a deal to buy Twitter, something to which he says he’s still committed, although he also remains publicly critical of Twitter and people associated with it. In what sounds like the missive to which Biden was reacting, Musk said in a recent email to executives at Tesla, where he’s CEO, that he currently has a “super bad feeling” about the economy — whatever on earth that means — and apparently directed company leaders to put all hiring at the company on hold. Per Reuters, Musk “did not elaborate on the reasons for his “super bad feeling” about the economic outlook in the brief email seen by Reuters,” although he also appeared to indicate that some 10 percent of jobs at the company would be on the chopping block — but it’s not yet clear how exactly that might play out. Throughout recent months, Tesla’s stock price has been sinking — as of Friday afternoon, it had seen a 41 percent drop this year, although obviously, numbers could shift.
There are positive signs elsewhere in the economy, including individual investments Biden referenced. The jobs market in May beat expectations from economists, and unemployment levels remain relatively low. The total of people actively receiving unemployment benefits is also down — “Since I took office, the number of Americans relying on unemployment benefits is now down 95%, and our economy has added 8.3 million jobs,” Biden recently remarked. Although inflation — affecting people worldwide — remains intense, U.S. wage growth in certain areas has at times gone faster than inflation. Going forward, the president and his team continue to tout the bipartisan infrastructure spending package that the president signed into law last year as a source of significant support for the domestic jobs market. Meanwhile, a plan from National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) leader Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) pushes the prospect of raising income taxes on more than half of Americans. Could the contrast be clearer?
