Elon Musk Predicts 'Mild Recession' For 18 Months, Says US Economy Is 'Past Peak Inflation'

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk has said that the U.S. recession is inevitable and will last for the next year and a half. 

Speaking at the electric-vehicle maker's annual shareholder meeting last week, Musk said that inflation would "drop rapidly" soon and the U.S. is past peak inflation. 

"We will have a recession; I think it will be a relatively mild recession. I would guess it is a mild recession for 18 months or something like that. That would be my best guess right now," he said. 

During the meeting, Musk said that Tesla's commodity and component costs are trending downward over the next six months.  

Talking about Tesla's need to buy more raw materials often months in advance, Musk said, "We sort of have some insight into where prices are headed over time." 

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"The interesting thing we are seeing now is that most of our commodities, most of the things that go into a Tesla — not all, but more than half — the prices are trending down in six months," he added. 

U.S. Inflation is raging at its highest level in more than 40 years. The economy seems to have contracted for two quarters in a row. 

According to the Labor Department data released on Friday, the U.S. economy has added about 528,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5%. 

Last month, Musk mentioned that Tesla could lower its car prices, but it would depend on inflation.

Musk had said that he had a bad feeling about the economy and would need to cut 10% of jobs at Tesla. 

He predicted that a recession in the U.S. could last up to 18 months and said he is concerned about the state of the U.S. economy. 
Photo: Created with an image from Steve Jurvetson on Flickr