Tesla CEO Elon Musk is sharply criticizing President Biden’s stewardship of the economy and warning that if prices skyrocket any higher, the U.S. could end up like Venezuela.
Mr. Musk told the All-In podcast that the Biden administration had not accomplished much in its 18 months in power, except to pass big spending bills that contributed to inflation.
“The obvious reason for inflation is that the government printed a zillion amount of more money than it had, obviously,” he said. “If the federal government writes checks, they never bounce … if there are more dollars created, then the increase in the goods and services across the economy, then you have inflation.”
Mr. Musk argued that the “government can’t just issue checks,” as Congress did during the coronavirus pandemic, without eventually leading to inflation and other dire economic problems.
“If the government could just issue massive amounts of money and deficits didn’t matter, then why don’t we just make the deficit 100 times bigger,” he said. “Various countries have tried this experiment multiple times. Have you seen Venezuela?”
Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation had jumped 8.3% over the past 12 months — marking a 40-year high. White House officials have tried to downplay the significance of rising costs, blaming both Republicans and Russia for inflation.
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Mr. Musk said that such attempts at passing the political buck go against the interests of the people. He also accused Mr. Biden of being overly controlled by special interests tied to the Democratic party.
“In the case of Biden, he is simply too much captured by the unions, which was not the case with [former President Barack] Obama,” Mr. Musk said.
“The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter,” he added. “The path to power is the path to the teleprompter.”
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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