Elon Musk has slammed Joe Biden over the cost of living crisis and warned that inflation will worsen to the point where the US is beginning to resemble Venezuela.
The Tesla CEO, who is in the midst of a $44 billion takeover bid for Twitter, said he previously voted “overwhelmingly for Democrats” but savaged the current administration by saying the presidency is Donald Trump more effective at getting things done.
He told The All-In Podcast: “The real president is the one who controls the teleprompter. The road to power is the road to the teleprompter.’
Elon Musk has slammed Joe Biden over the cost of living crisis and warned that inflation will worsen to the point where the US is beginning to resemble Venezuela
The Tesla CEO said he previously voted “overwhelmingly for Democrats” but devastated the current administration
World’s Richest Man then referenced Will Ferrell’s anchorman character Ron Burgundy, who literally read what was written on his teleprompter, which resulted in him losing his job.
“I have a feeling if someone accidentally leans on the teleprompter, it’s going to be like Anchorman.
“This administration doesn’t seem to be doing much. Aside from Trump, in the Trump administration there were many people in the administration who were doing things effectively.
Musk added that Democrats are “overly controlled by the unions and by litigators, particularly class action attorneys,” while Republicans are influenced by “corporate evil and religious bigotry.”
He told The All-In Podcast that Democrats are “overly controlled by the unions and the trial attorneys, especially the class action attorneys.”
He continued, “In the case of Biden, he’s just too caught up in the unions, which wasn’t the case with Obama.”
His comments echo those of the world’s second richest man, Jeff Bezos, who accused Biden of using diversionary tactics after officials said he opposed his economic agenda because it would mean he would pay more taxes.
The Amazon founder said: “The government tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already overheated, inflationary economy and only Manchin saved it from itself.
“Inflation is a regressive tax that hurts the least well-off the most. Misdirection doesn’t help the country.’
A White House spokesman said it was not surprising that one of the richest people in the world could object to an economic plan that increases taxes on the super-rich.
The result was another Twitter attack from Bezos as he repeated his criticism of Biden’s huge Build Back Better spending plans.
The world’s second-richest man, Jeff Bezos, continued his attacks on the White House Monday, claiming it was trying to distract from its economic failures by blaming inflation on wealthy individuals after a government spokesman suggested that Bezos opposed his agenda because that would mean he did pay more taxes
“Look, a squirrel! This is the White House statement regarding my recent tweets,” Bezos said over a release of a spokesperson’s comments.
“They understandably want to blur the issue. They know that inflation hurts those most in need most.
“But unions don’t cause inflation, and neither do wealthy people. Remember, the government did its best to add another $3.5 trillion to federal spending.
“They failed, but if they had succeeded, inflation would be even higher than it is today, and inflation is at a 40-year high today.”
Musk offered his own take on the current inflationary crisis on the podcast yesterday.
He said: “I mean, the obvious reason for inflation is that the government obviously printed a billion more money than they had.
“So it’s like the government can’t just write checks well in excess of revenue without inflation, you know, the velocity of money stays constant.
“When the federal government writes checks, they never bounce. So this is the effective creation of more dollars. And as more dollars are created, then the increase in goods and services throughout the economy, then again you have inflation, the velocity of money is kept constant.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said the president’s claim was just misdirection and called on DHS’ new disinformation panel to review Biden’s tweet
“If the government could just spend huge amounts of money and deficits didn’t matter, why don’t we make the deficit 100 times bigger? The answer is you can’t because it would basically turn the dollar into something worthless,” he noted.
“Different countries have attempted this experiment multiple times. Have you seen Venezuela? Like the poor, poor people of Venezuela, you know, they’ve just been treated ruthlessly by their government.’
Venezuela is still battling hyperinflation, which reached astronomical heights of more than 1 million percent in 2018.
In the US, the Labor Department report last week said the consumer price index rose 0.3 percent month-on-month in April, up 8.3 percent year-on-year, compared with an 8.5 percent increase in April March.
Inflation started to rise in April 2021, meaning annual increases are now from a higher base
Inflation is at its highest level in 40 years as Biden appears to blame corporate taxes and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
The food index rose 9.4 percent from a year earlier, the biggest 12-month rise since 1981, and the energy index rose 30.3 percent from a year earlier.
Excluding fluctuating food and energy prices, so-called “core” inflation reached 6.3 percent in the 12 months to April, slightly below the annual rate of 6.5 percent in March.
In a worrying sign that inflation is still tightening, however, core prices rose 0.6 percent in March-April – double the February-March 0.3 percent increase.
These increases were fueled by rising prices for airline tickets, hotel rooms and new cars. Rental costs also rose sharply.