Elon Musk issues ominous warning amid struggling economy and bitcoin slide: 'The only way to get us out is…'

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revisited Joe Rogan’s podcast last Friday, making a seemingly frightening prediction about the purported fate of the American economy, according to a Forbes blogger.

According to the article, which was published on Forbes’ platform by an independent writer, Musk and Rogan had a rousing discussion about one of Musk’s favorite topics: the purportedly imminent implosion of the American economy.

Musk has been claiming the United States would “go bankrupt” in the very near future for at least a year — last November, he warned a national bankruptcy was approaching “super fast.”

Of course, Musk also told a notoriously credulous Rogan that he personally figured out how the “day of reckoning for when America goes bankrupt” could be avoided.

“I came to the conclusion that the only way to get us out of the debt crisis and to prevent America from going bankrupt is AI [artificial intelligence] and robotics. We need to grow the economy at a rate that allows us to pay off our debt,” Musk confidently asserted.

In July, Musk floated the idea of establishing a third party called “the America party,” maintaining that the American dollar was doomed and that crypto such as bitcoin was the only way forward.

Incidentally, these economic saviors — artificial intelligence, robotics, and crypto — are all areas in which Musk stands to profit from further growth. At the same time, it’s fair to say that someone who truly believes in something may also invest in it, so a vested interest doesn’t automatically discount someone’s opinion either.

For starters, there is no mechanism by which the United States of America can truly “go bankrupt,” though Musk was likely using it as a figure of speech.

It’s possible the U.S. could default on its debt, but in June, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that was “never going to happen,” per Reuters.

In May, after another instance in which Musk warned of a federal bankruptcy, economist Dr. Steve Keen released a video debunking his claims.

A month before that, one analysis estimated Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could end up costing taxpayers four times as much as the agency claimed it saved.

However, Musk is a globally prominent figure, and his words on issues like crypto have measurable, real-world effects. A January 2023 study demonstrated that Musk’s tweets had a significant impact on whether cryptocurrencies rose or fell.

Cryptocurrency is a volatile topic for several reasons, with the value of many spiking and falling, as bitcoin has dropped by more than 15% over the last month. Also volatile is its environmental impact. While crypto brings some benefits and has led to some investment in renewable technology, generating certain types of crypto requires a staggering amount of energy, nonetheless straining power grids until more comes from newly built renewable sources.

For the general public, turning to actual economists for information on the American economy is a good way to stay credibly informed.

As far as crypto goes, sustainable ventures using clean energy are thankfully becoming more commonplace, and a recent Cambridge study found that less than half of bitcoin power now comes from fossil fuel sources.

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.