Just a few weeks ago, a Twitter user said he was convinced that all economic data, whether job numbers or GDP growth, are all fake. Tesla CEO Elon Musk agreed, saying “the numbers don’t make sense.” With the economy’s prolonged downturn, economic indicators are all we have to look for positive or ominous signs—except for Musk, who apparently doesn’t believe them.
In April, he had proclaimed that a “mild recession is already here,” even though government data didn’t reflect that—and in fact, economic growth was subsequently revised upward to a healthy 2% for the first quarter. Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman, a professor emeritus at Princeton and New York Times columnist, has been optimistic about the economy for years, and now he’s taking a victory lap with inflation coming down. He’s also telling his audience not to listen to “recession truthers” like Musk or the others who loudly predicted a recession and are annoyed that it hasn’t happened yet.
