US Business Leaders Predict Economic ‘Hurricane’

Rabat – Top US businessmen have made several dire predictions about an upcoming economic downturn this week, worrying investors and consumers alike. Senior executives from Tesla’s Elon Musk to JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon are warning of rough economic times ahead.

Dimon called on the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates ahead of a coming economic “hurricane,” during Wednesday’s Bernstein 38th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference. Dimon pointed to three factors — the Ukraine war, quantitative easing, and “fiscally induced growth” — as the main source of the coming economic difficulties.

“I’m an optimist,” Dimon told the press, adding: “I said there’s storm clouds, they’re big storm clouds, they’re — it’s a hurricane.” Although “right now it’s kind of sunny,” he stressed, a “hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way.”

Dimon emphasized that “we just don’t know if it’s a minor one or Superstorm Sandy,” but warned listeners to “better brace yourself.” Dimon’s company, JPMorgan Chase, is “bracing” itself by preparing to make cuts in its organization in order to be “very conservative in our balance sheet.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk added to growing fears by stating he has a “super bed feeling” about the economy in an internal email to executives. He ordered an immediate halt to hiring at the electric vehicle makers and indicated he wants to fire 10% of his work force in preparation for a coming economic downturn.

Wall Street-giant Carl Icahn has been issuing similar warnings since May. He has notably warned of a “recession or even worse,” and indicated that corporations in the US are not prepared for the coming storm. “You have some very fine companies, some very fine CEOs, but far too many that are not up to the task that I think is going to be necessitated,” Icahn has warned.