“Bankruptcies Need To Happen”: Elon Musk Says Economy Is In For A Necessary “Rude Awakening”

You can say what you want about Elon Musk’s business practices at Tesla over the last decade, but he sure seems to be spot on when it comes to his view on macro nowadays.

Musk said on Twitter last week that he thinks it would be “beneficial” for the U.S. to go into recession because “some bankruptcies need to happen”, according to a new New York Post report.

We’re not sure Musk would have felt the same way just a couple of years ago when Tesla was reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy, but those days have passed.

Discussing the economy on social media, Musk said it was due for a “rude awakening” and that working from home has “made Americans lazy”.

He was queried as to whether or not he thought a recession was on its way and told a Twitter user: “Yes, but this is actually a good thing. It has been raining money on fools for too long.”

“Some bankruptcies need to happen. Also, all the Covid stay-at-home stuff has tricked people into thinking that you don’t actually need to work hard,” he continued.

He said he thought a recession would last 12 to 18 months and, channeling his inner Milton Friedman, said: “Companies that are inherently negative cash flow (ie value destroyers) need to die, so that they stop consuming resources.”

You can call it ironic that Musk’s company would have likely been wiped out in a recession a couple of years ago, but for now the Tesla founder seems to have far more of a clue about economics than those in government and at the Fed.

At this rate, between defending free speech and understanding how a free market is supposed to work, Musk might as well take the next step and just run for President…