Elon Musk predicted a global recession that could last until 2024.
In a Twitter exchange Thursday, Musk predicted that a global recession would last until Spring of 2024. Musk’s prediction follows comments he made earlier this week saying that many of the major economies are already in recessions. It also follows warnings from fellow titans of industry Jeff Bezos and Jamie Dimon, who have also warned in recent days about a coming recession.
The exchange began with a tweet from Billy Markus, the creator of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. “[O]h wow coronavirus numbers are actually pretty low [I] guess all we have to worry about now is the impending global recession and nuclear apocalypse,” Markus wrote on Twitter.
“It sure would be nice to have one year without a horrible global event,” Musk replied.
It sure would be nice to have one year without a horrible global event
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2022
Then a Twitter account called Tesla Owners Silicon Valley replied to Musk, asking how long and how bad the recession would be.
“How long you think the recession will last,” Tesla Owners Silicon Valley asked.
“Just guessing, but probably until spring of ‘24,” Musk replied.
Just guessing, but probably until spring of ‘24
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2022
“How much worse do you think it will get??” Tesla Owners Silicon Valley asked. “Like a little worse or a ton worse?”
“Varies a lot,” said Musk. “Tesla & SpaceX are in good positions, but many other companies are not. Recessions do have a silver lining in that companies that shouldn’t exist stop existing.”
Varies a lot. Tesla & SpaceX are in good positions, but many other companies are not.
Recessions do have a silver lining in that companies that shouldn’t exist stop existing.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2022
Musk’s comments on Twitter follow comments he made about the state of the global economy at Tesla’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday. After Tesla shareholders asked about the global economy and its impacts on business in China, Musk remarked that the communist nation is experiencing “a recession of sorts,” while Europe is likewise seeing “a recession of sorts driven by energy.”
Musk believes that North America, in contrast, is in “pretty good health,” although he said that the Federal Reserve is raising rates too quickly and will eventually adopt a more even-handed approach.
Musk is not the only billionaire CEO sounding the alarm about the prospect of a recession, whether in the U.S. or globally. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos endorsed a prediction of a recession in the United States by Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. “Yep, the probabilities in this economy tell you to batten down the hatches,” Bezos wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
On Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also predicted a recession in both the U.S. and the global economy. “These are very, very serious things which I think are likely to push the U.S. and the world — I mean, Europe is already in recession — and they’re likely to put the U.S. in some kind of recession six to nine months from now,” Dimon said at an event with CNBC.
Despite these stark warnings from some of the top CEOs in the country, President Joe Biden and the Biden administration are continuing to downplay or deny the threat of a recession. “Our economy is strong as hell,” Biden told a reporter at a Baskin Robbins in Gresham, Oregon, last week. “The internal — inflation is worldwide, it’s worse off everywhere else than it is in the United States. So the problem is a lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries, not so much ours.”
Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.