Musk says recession ‘is inevitable at some point’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that he thinks the United States will likely fall into a recession in the near future. 

“A recession is inevitable at some point,” Musk told Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.

“As to whether there is a recession in the near term,” he added, “that is more likely than not.” 

Musk’s remarks follow other top industry leaders who have voiced concerns that rising inflation and the Federal Reserve’s response may impact the economic growth the country has seen as it comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic. A recession is considered a time period in which the gross domestic product falls for at least two successive economic quarters. 

To combat inflation, the Fed raised interest rates last week by three-quarters of a percentage point, the largest increase since 1994. Stocks fell toward the end of last week after the announcement, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing its worst week of losses since 2020. 

As the Fed takes steps to try to get inflation under control, economists have expressed concern that slowing down the economy will result in the economy shrinking. 

A survey of top business executives published on Friday showed that 60 percent of CEOs think a recession will occur by the end of next year. 

Goldman Sachs economists, meanwhile, said in a research note on Monday that the chances of a recession are rising, Bloomberg noted. They said they believe the chances of a recession in the next year have risen from 15 percent to 30 percent.

President Biden emphasized in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that recession is “not inevitable” and denied that the federal government sending stimulus checks to individuals during COVID-19 business lockdowns are to blame for inflation.