In the midst of the 2024 election, Elon Musk, former President Donald Trump’s wealthiest backer, has urged voters to accept short-term economic pain to reduce government spending.
Musk believes that Trump’s plans to put the U.S. on firmer fiscal footing would likely entail “temporary hardship” for ordinary Americans.
At a virtual town hall event held on Musk’s social media platform, X, the multibillionaire Tesla and SpaceX executive said he was “praying for a victory” for Trump, so he could begin working in a high-level Cabinet role to axe federal spending.
Many economists agree that Trump’s economic and fiscal proposals could spark an economic calamity, though it is not clear whether they have considered or given credence to Musk’s calls for austerity.
In a joint letter released last week, 23 Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economists warned that Trump’s plans for tariffs, tax cuts, and an immigration crackdown — including detaining and deporting millions of people — would “lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.”
More than anything, they wrote, they wrote that Trump would undermine the rule of law and political certainty, “the most important determinants of economic success.”
As the U.S. economy heads toward Election Day on firm footing with consumer confidence rising; employers still adding hundreds of thousands of jobs, wages handily outpacing inflation, and overall economic output chugging along many
This time, Trump has promised to appoint Musk as chief government efficiency officer, giving Musk’s frankness about reductions and his track record of making large, painful cuts at his own companies added weight.
Americans are still struggling with big-ticket expenses like child and elder care costs, a forbidding housing market, steep insurance and debt payments, and more.
While elected officials in both parties have for decades campaigned on addressing America’s debt load and spending obligations, neither party has made much of a dent.
