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President Joe Biden brushed off Elon Musk’s ‘super bad feeling’ about the US economy on Friday before telling the billionaire to have ‘lots of luck on his trip to the moon.
Biden was asked about a report that the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO said he has a ‘super bad feeling’ about the economy while answering questions about May’s jobs report in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
‘Well let me tell you, while Elon is talking about that Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly,’ Biden said. ‘I think Ford is increasing in building new electric vehicles, 6,000 new employees – union employees, I might add, in the Midwest.’
Biden added: ‘The former Chrysler Corporation, Stellantis, they are also making similar investments in electric vehicles. Intel was adding 20,000 new jobs for making computer chips.’
Following his comments the president seemed to joke, ‘So, you know, lots of luck on his trip to the moon.’
Moments later Musk tweeted, ‘Thanks Mr President!’ and shared a NASA press release announcing SpaceX had won the contract to take American astronauts to the moon.
Musk’s concern over the economy stem from a leaked email reportedly sent to executives at the electric-car company Tesla. In the email, Musk said he had a ‘super bad feeling’ about the economy and that as a result, he wants to cut 10% of employees.
Tesla employed around 100,000 people at the end of 2021, according to an annual SEC filing. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk’s message came two days after he told employees to either return to the workplace or leave the company.
‘Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week,’ he wrote in a message to employees Tuesday night. ”The office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office.’
If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned,’ the CEO added.
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