President Joe Biden got testy about a Friday email Elon Musk sent Tesla employees when questioned after presenting job numbers.
The president announced Friday that 390,000 new jobs were added in May and unemployment remained at 3.6 percent. He made his remarks from Rehoboth Beach Convention Center in his home state of Delaware.
“At the time I took office, about 16 months ago, the economy had stalled and COVID was out of control,” President Biden claimed. “Today, thanks to the economic plan and the vaccination plan that my administration put into action, America has achieved the most robust recovery in modern history just two years removed from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”
A reporter told Biden that Musk said that he has a “super bad feeling” about the U.S. economy and announced plans to lay off 10 percent of his salaried employees. “What do you say to Elon Musk about his feeling about the economy?” the reporter asked, noting JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has said similar things.
“While Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly,” Biden remonstrated. “I think Ford is increasing the investment in building new electric vehicles: 6,000 new employees — union employees, I might add — in the Midwest.”
He explained that the former Chrysler Corporation Stellantis is making similar investments in electric vehicles. And, Intel is adding 20,000 new jobs for making computer chips, he claimed.
“So, you know, lots of luck on his trip to the Moon,” the president concluded. “I mean, I don’t — I mean, you know.”
“Thanks Mr President!” responded Musk in a Twitter comment posted within 30 minutes of the president’s press conference. Below his comment was a link to a press release from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration about plans to return astronauts to explore more of the moon.
NASA announced the agency selected Musk’s company SpaceX to build the first commercial human lander to safely carry the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface.
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