Morning Wire XX
[0] Inflation eased in March to the lowest it's been in almost two years, despite prices remaining stubbornly high.
[1] We discuss what's driving the rate down in another metric that economists say spells more struggles ahead.
[2] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[3] It's Thursday, April 13th, and this is Morning Wire.
[4] The EPA announced new emissions regulations that would drastically shift the American auto industry towards going alex.
[5] But most American drivers aren't ready to give up gas.
[6] Today's actions will accelerate our ongoing transition to a clean vehicle's future.
[7] We discuss the new rules and the challenges.
[8] And a new drug is being called the King Kong of Weight Loss Medications.
[9] When we start you on a weight loss drug, you are on that weight loss drug for life.
[10] How does the drug work?
[11] And what are the risks?
[12] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[13] Stay tuned.
[14] We have the news you need to know.
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[20] According to a new report from the Labor Department, inflation fell last month to the lowest mark in almost two years, offering slight relief for consumers burdened by years of record cost increases.
[21] But a number of other figures showed inflation is still far from the rear view.
[22] Here are the latest economic news and how it's being received in Washington is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
[23] Cabot every month we get these reports and every month it seems there's more bad news.
[24] This month, though, shows some good and bad signs.
[25] Let's start with the good.
[26] Yeah, on Wednesday, we learned that last month, inflation eased to its lowest point since May of 2021.
[27] The all -important consumer price index, which tracks the cost of goods and services, came in at 5%.
[28] That's down from 6 % in February and a good bit lower than the 8 % rates we saw throughout last year.
[29] The main factor driving the cool down was a moderate price decrease on gasoline.
[30] While gas prices actually rose nationwide in the month of March, the inflation rate is determined based on where prices are now compared to a year ago.
[31] And in that case, they're down from $4 .10 last March to $3 .38 this March.
[32] We also saw moderate relief on airfare, groceries, and insurance costs compared to the year before.
[33] And that's a good point to remember about inflation rates.
[34] They track price increases over a 12 -month span.
[35] Exactly.
[36] And that context is where some of the bad news comes in.
[37] While 5 % is the lowest rate we've seen since 2021, it still means the prices are 5 % higher than they were this time last year.
[38] And remember, at that point, prices were already 8 .5 % higher than the year before.
[39] So the good news is all relative because it means things are still considerably more expensive than they were before inflation took hold in 2020.
[40] Remember from 2018 to 2020, the average inflation rate was 2 .1%.
[41] As the New York Times put it, this month's report has some good news, but quote, there's still a long road back to normal.
[42] And there's more bad news when we look at the other important tracker known as the core index, which excludes products with more volatile pricing like gas and groceries.
[43] That number was at 5 .6 % in March, which is actually an increase compared to February.
[44] So not all inflation rates are going in the right direction.
[45] That's also important because the core index is much more closely watched by central bankers and is often a better indicator of overall economic health.
[46] What sort of political response have we seen from the administration to this new report?
[47] Well, the White House was quick to tout the report as evidence the President Biden's economic policies are working.
[48] In a statement Wednesday morning, the president said, quote, while inflation is still too high, this progress means more breathing room for hardworking Americans.
[49] The Republican National Committee released a competing statement of their own, saying, quote, today's consumer price index marks the 23rd straight month inflation has been at or above 5 percent and the 24th straight month of negative real wages.
[50] So while Biden celebrated the news, the reality is he's in a tough spot politically when it comes to inflation.
[51] And fewer than 20 percent of Americans say they're better off now than they were just a year ago.
[52] So celebrating one month of partly good news could rub Americans the wrong way when they're still dealing with the impact of higher cost relative to when you took office.
[53] Yes, we're all reminded every time we go to the grocery store.
[54] Yep.
[55] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[56] Anytime.
[57] That's Daily Wire Senior Editor, Kevin Phillips.
[58] Coming up, new EPA rules aim to radically transform the American auto industry.
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[70] The Biden administration's environmental protection agency has announced new emissions regulations that will radically alter the auto industry and the cars we drive.
[71] These rules will provide the regulatory foundation for years to come to continue to incentivize the significant investments being made by industry across the entire on -road sector.
[72] Here with the details is Daily Wire researcher Michael Whitaker.
[73] Hi, Michael.
[74] Thanks for coming on.
[75] What can you tell us about the EPA's new rules?
[76] The EPA's proposal would put a cap on tailpipe emissions, the carbon dioxide and other gases produced by an internal combustion engine.
[77] EVs don't produce those kinds of emissions, so they'd be exempt, which would create more incentive to produce and sell them.
[78] One of the stated goals of the policy, according to official sources, is to make two -thirds of new vehicles sold in the United States electric powered by 2032.
[79] Last year, they were under 6%, so that's a tenfold increase in market share over the course of a decade.
[80] That's even more ambitious than the Biden administration's previous target of making EVs 50 % of all new sales by 2030.
[81] So a 10 -fold increase sounds very ambitious.
[82] How realistic is that?
[83] Well, the major issue is that EVs haven't proven to be profitable for most auto companies, aside from Tesla.
[84] Even after billions of dollars in government subsidies, the rest are offsetting their EV losses with revenue from their profitable and more popular gas -powered vehicles.
[85] Ford, for example, announced that it expects to lose about $3 billion from its EV division in 2023, although it expects to turn a pre -tax profit of between $9 and $11 billion overall.
[86] As Axios put it, gas -powered vehicles are paying for their own funeral.
[87] Automakers are willing to make the switch, especially since regulators at all levels have made it clear that EVs are the way of the future come hell or high water.
[88] But even the most enthusiastic haven't committed to electrifying their fleets that quickly.
[89] There are supply chain concerns, but there are also significant worries that not enough people will buy these EVs, even if we can make them.
[90] A recent poll from the Associated Press found that only 19 % of Americans say that they're very likely to choose an EV as their next car purchase, compared to 47 % who said they were either not too likely or not at all likely to do so.
[91] Did the survey ask why people are hesitant about EVs?
[92] Well, according to the poll, the main drivers of consumer hesitants are high prices and a lack of charging stations.
[93] The average price of a new electric vehicle in 2022 was about $61 ,000, compared to about $50 ,000 for traditional cars.
[94] That's according to Kelly Blue Book.
[95] Last year's Inflation Reduction Act included the $7 ,500 tax credit for certain new EV purchases, and up to $4 ,000 for used EV.
[96] So the government is obviously trying to close that gap.
[97] And advocates of EVs argue that the decreased cost of maintenance and fuel will make them cheaper in the long run.
[98] But as of now, the market's just not there.
[99] As far as charging goes, in early 2023, there are approximately 130 ,000 public charging stations in the United States, but those are not evenly distributed.
[100] California, for example, has about 30 % of those stations despite making up only 12 % of the U .S. population.
[101] Rural states like Wyoming and Alaska have almost none.
[102] Even within California, high -income areas have more than four times as many charging stations per household as low -income areas.
[103] But if EVs are going to transition from a luxury item to the industry standard, then chargers need to be everywhere.
[104] In 2021, the Biden administration committed to building 500 ,000 charging stations by 2030.
[105] But experts say will need more than a million to satisfy consumers.
[106] And since the average EV can only go about 250 miles on a single charge, they'll need to be spread out across the entire country.
[107] There's also the uncomfortable fact that as of now, China produces 80 % of the world's lithium -ion batteries, a crucial component of EVs.
[108] China's dominance in this sector is especially problematic because of how much our relationship has deteriorated in recent years.
[109] All right.
[110] Well, Michael, thanks so much for coming on.
[111] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire researcher, Michael Whitaker.
[112] Newly approved diabetes and weight loss medications like Ozympic and Wagovi have taken the weight loss industry by storm.
[113] But a new drug, Monjaro, is being called the key.
[114] King Kong of weight loss drugs.
[115] Here to discuss the drugs and their associated risks is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestajakamo.
[116] So Amanda, tell us a little bit about these drugs when they hit the market and what the price tag looks like.
[117] So the two drugs really gaining attention are semaglutide and trezapitide.
[118] Semaglutide is sold as a type 2 diabetes medication under the brand name Ozempic.
[119] That same drug is also marketed for weight loss under the brand name Wagovi.
[120] Wagovi was first approved for adults in 2021, and in just December, the FDA approved the drug for some minors, starting at just age 12.
[121] Both OZempic and Wagovi can cost about $1 ,000 per month without insurance.
[122] Tresepatide is the newer drug causing a lot of buzz.
[123] As you mentioned, it's been dubbed the King Kong of Weight Loss drugs for its apparent effectiveness.
[124] It's marketed right now as a type two diabetes medication under the brand name Mujaro.
[125] That was approved by the FDA last May. But we can expect that Tresepatide is going to be approved by the FDA in the coming months as a weight loss drug under a different brand name, though some people are already using Minjaro off label for weight loss.
[126] Same with Ozempic.
[127] Just like Wagovi and Ozempic, Mujaro is an injectable prescription medicine and costs around $1 ,000 per month.
[128] Okay, so how do these drugs work and how effective are they for weight loss?
[129] So basically the drugs work to mimic a hormone produced in the gut called GLP1 to make you feel full and regulate your blood glucose levels.
[130] Trezepotide is a little different.
[131] It's the first ever GLP1 and GIP, another hormone secreted from the intestine.
[132] Studies on semi -glutide, which is in Ozempic and Wagovi, show that participants on average cut their weight by about 17%, which is a really big number.
[133] But trezepatide was even higher at 22 .5%.
[134] That was on average about 52 pounds for participants in this clinical trial, those people generally had a BMI at 30 or above.
[135] Okay, so they're very effective when used for weight loss, it sounds like, but I want to get to the risks associated with these drugs.
[136] What do we know about that?
[137] So the common side effects are generally nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, basically stomach issues, but there's also increased risk for more serious things like pancreatitis and thyroid cancer.
[138] I'll add that critics are also concerned about the lack of long -term studies on these drugs, specifically when it relates to trazepatide and the significantly higher dose of semi -glutide.
[139] Dr. Sean Hashmi, a board -certified internist, nephrologists, and obesity medicine specialists, discussed that thyroid cancer risk based off data from 2006 to 2018 on GLP -1s.
[140] The overall risk of thyroid cancer with GLP -1s is very small.
[141] But the question is, how does it compared to the general population, patients who were currently using GLP -1 receptors, they had a 46 % higher risk of thyroid cancer than those who were not using it.
[142] Now, if patients had used GLP -1 adding us for about one to three years, they had a 58 % higher risk of thyroid cancer than patients who were not using it.
[143] And at three years, there was about a 36 % higher risk.
[144] And here's Dr. Hashmi issuing a general warning about these trendy drugs.
[145] The bottom line here is the risk is not zero.
[146] Medications are not a magic bullet.
[147] Every day I have patients come to my office and they're not looking to eat better.
[148] They're not looking to exercise more.
[149] They're just looking for a drug and hoping the drug would change their overall weight and magically fix everything.
[150] It doesn't.
[151] He also emphasized that if you want to use these drugs, you have to commit to them for life.
[152] When you get off of them, your appetite will come back and.
[153] so will the weight.
[154] One NIH study showed participants regained an average of 66 % of the weight they lost when they discontinued the drug.
[155] The way to be successful in long -term weight loss is to change your lifestyle, to eat better, to exercise more, and to get enough sleep.
[156] All right.
[157] Well, Amanda, thanks so much for reporting.
[158] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Presta Jocamo.
[159] Another story we're tracking this week.
[160] The second of two Democrats expelled from the Republican -led Tennessee House will return to the legislative after a Memphis commission voted to reinstatum on Wednesday.
[161] The move comes just one week after Representative Justin Pearson of Memphis and another lawmaker were expelled from the chamber for inciting gun control protesters on the House floor.
[162] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[163] Thanks for waking up with us.
[164] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
[165] Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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