Elon Musk.REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke Elon Musk is a "recession truther" who buys into conspiracies because of his ego, Paul Krugman says. The Tesla CEO has questioned official economic stats and boasted about his unique access to data. Musk and other tech leaders think they're geniuses so they're happy to doubt experts, Krugman says. Elon Musk is a "recession truther" who falls for false conspiracies because of his massive ego, Paul Krugman says.Musk, the owner of Twitter and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, warned in December of a severe, imminent economic downturn lasting about 18 months.