Elon Musk Pokes Fun At Fed's 'Ancient' Tech: 'World of Warcraft Economy Is Lightyears Better'

The Federal Reserve's handling of the monetary policy in the current tightening cycle has drawn criticism from a section of economists and corporate executives.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has in the past voiced his disgruntlement over the central bank's aggressive rate hikes and warned of dire consequences if it does not immediately start cutting rates. Late Monday, the tech entrepreneur was at it again.

Ancient Tech: Musk's comments came in response to a tweet by a Twitter handle named @WallStreetSilv, who noted that the Fed appears to be specializing in sparking boom and bust cycles and bailouts as needed.

The Twitter user shared a comment by veteran market analyst Ed Yardeni, who said the Fed has averted a stock market collapse after the implosion of the Silicon Valley Bank by injecting billions to backstop deposits.

The Twitter user also posed a question as to whether this was the best way to run a financial system.

Musk chimed in and said, "Their [Fed's] technology is so ancient." In a lighter vein, he commented that the "World of Warcraft economy is lightyears better (actually)."  WoW is a multiplayer online role-playing game released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment.

See Also: Best Companies To Invest In

Why It's Important: The Fed is set to meet on May 2-3 to decide the next monetary policy move. At the March meeting that came immediately after the banking crisis erupted, the central bank hiked rates by 25 basis points, although a tweak made to the post-meeting policy statement left scope for a potential pause.

The cumulative impact of the string of rate hikes implemented since March 2022 is slowly beginning to be evident in the form of a slowdown in key sectors of the economy. Manufacturing continues to be in contraction territory and the job market, which was thus far immune, is beginning to show cracks.

Analysts, including Ark Investment Management's Cathie Wood, have blamed the Fed for basing its decision on lagging indicators.

Fed funds futures still price in a 71.7% possibility of a 25 basis-point increment at the May meeting.

Read Next: Fed’s John Williams Says Pace Of Rate Hikes Didn’t Trigger Banking Crisis: ‘Haven’t Seen Clear Signs Yet Of Credit Conditions Tightening’