MSN

• Elon Musk reeled off a raft of challenges facing automakers and the wider US economy.

• The Tesla CEO warned about consumer debt, a credit crunch, and commercial real-estate woes.

• Musk flagged overseas wars as worrying, and cautioned the economic situation could deteriorate.

Like a car mechanic inspecting a banger, Elon Musk ticked off a long list of concerns about the US economy during Tesla's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

The EV maker's CEO noted that many American households are just scraping by, as higher prices and steeper interest rates on credit cards, mortgages, and car loans squeeze their monthly budgets.

"A large number of people are living paycheck to paycheck and with a lot of debt," Musk said, adding that credit-card costs have surged to "extremely punishing" levels. "If you cannot pay them off and you're still accruing interest at 20%, you're at best headed to a bad place."