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Biden dismisses Elon Musk’s ‘super bad feeling’ about economy, wishes SpaceX CEO ‘lots of luck on his trip to the moon’
President makes remarks following stronger-than-expected jobs report
President Joe Biden addresses Elon Musk’s warning about the economy in part with a comment about traveling to the moon.
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President Joe Biden on Friday sounded dismissive when a reporter asked him about a much-discussed report that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy.
Biden responded to the question by saying companies such as Ford F,
“So you know, lots of luck on his trip to the moon,” the president said, referring to the SpaceX and Tesla boss.
SpaceX has been planning a 2023 trip to the moon and back — the first civilian lunar trip. NASA also picked SpaceX last year to develop a human lander for carrying U.S. astronauts to the lunar surface.
Musk said in an email to executives at Tesla that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy, and that employee headcount at the electric-vehicles giant needed to be cut by 10%, according to a Reuters report.
The Biden administration and Musk have been at odds repeatedly, with the entrepreneur once tweeting that the president “for reasons unknown” is “unable to say the word ‘Tesla.'”
In response to Biden’s comment on Friday, Musk tweeted “Thanks Mr President!” as well as a link to NASA’s announcement about its selection of SpaceX for the $2.9 billion lander contract.
Biden’s remark came after he gave a speech in Rehoboth Beach, Del., about the latest reading on the country’s job market.
In that address, the president characterized the jobs report as encouraging for Americans dealing with high inflation.
Friday’s employment report showed the U.S. added 390,000 new jobs in May, above forecasts for 328,000, signaling the labor market and broader economy are still going strong despite high inflation.
The increase in employment was the smallest in 13 months, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.6%.
“We aren’t likely to see the kind of blockbuster job reports month after month like we had over this past year, but that’s a good thing,” Biden said.
“That’s a sign of a healthy economy with steady growth, rising wages for working families, everyday costs easing up, and shrinking the deficit. That stability puts us in a strong position to tackle what is clearly a problem — inflation. I’ve been very clear that fighting inflation is my top economic priority.”
See: As Biden fights inflation, economists warn his weapons for this battle look ‘extremely limited’
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