Biden wishes Elon Musk 'luck' on trip to the moon after job cut remark (updated)

Forward Industries

03/06/2022 17:04

(Adds Musk response, Biden quote)
    By Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt
    REHOBOTH BEACH, Del., June 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe
Biden, asked on Friday about Tesla  TSLA.O  CEO Elon Musk's
comment about having a "super bad feeling" about the economy,
quipped that he wished Musk "lots of luck" on his "trip to the
moon."
    Musk wrote in an email to executives that he had a "super
bad feeling" about the economy and needed to cut about 10% of
jobs at the electric carmaker, Reuters reported earlier on
Friday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2XQ0PI
    Asked by Reuters about Musk's comments, Biden was
dismissive.
   "While Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing
their investment overwhelmingly," Biden said. "Ford is
increasing investment and building new electric vehicles. Six
thousand new employees, union employees I might add, in the
Midwest."  F.N   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2XP0UP
    He added: "So, you know, lots of luck on his trip to the
moon."
    Musk replied on Twitter: "Thanks Mr President!" He included
a link referencing NASA's April 2021 award of a $2.9-billion
contract to Musk's space company SpaceX to build a spacecraft to
bring astronauts to the moon.
    Biden had just given a speech of his own touting
higher-than-expected U.S. job growth in May and rebuffing
criticism of his handling of inflation.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2XP2AO
    But he warned that job growth could slow in the coming
months as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to cool
inflation. The president said that slower hiring represents a
transition to stable growth rather than an omen for recession.
    "We aren't likely to see the kind of blockbuster job reports
month after month like we had over this past year," he said.
"But that's a good thing. That's a sign of a healthy economy."

 (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by
Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
 ((trevor.hunnicutt@tr.com; +1 (332) 219 1571;
twitter.com/TrevorNews; Reuters Messaging:
trevor.hunnicutt.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))