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Do New Weight Loss Drugs Work?; Does Evidence of Aliens Exist?; Interview With New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin; Wholesale Inflation Rises in October. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 14, 2024 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:32:02]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Well, this morning a brand-new report is out with some bad news on the inflation front. It shows wholesale inflation picked up more than expected last month.

CNN's Matt Egan joins us now.

Matt, there had been some progress on prices. Now there's a step backward. What happened?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Pamela, this is another reminder that getting inflation back to normal is easier said than done.

So today's report focuses on wholesale inflation. These are prices before they come to all of us as consumers. And it showed that producer prices were up by 2.4 percent year over year in October. That is a step in the wrong direction, an acceleration from September.

Month over month, prices were up by 0.2 percent. That's not an alarming increase, but it is also an acceleration. Part of this is being driven by the calendar. A year ago, inflation was falling rapidly. That's tough to live up to. When you look at the trend, you can see that inflation is obviously in a much better place than it was two, 2.5 years ago.

But when you combine today's report with yesterday's Consumer Price Index, it does suggest that this last mile of getting inflation back to normal is proving to be challenging. Economists that I talked to today, they didn't sound alarmed, though they did sound a bit more concerned.

And there is this growing sense that the Fed may have to slow the pace of interest rate cuts next year, which, of course, would be disappointing news for everyone trying to pay off credit cards or trying to get a car loan or a mortgage.

Now we know that the Fed and economists, they pay attention to the rate of inflation. But all of our viewers, they care about the level of prices. And there's no doubt that everyone is paying more than they were a few years ago. The typical household every month has to spend about $1,100 more than in January of 2021 for the same goods and services all because prices have gone up. One last point, I talked to Moody's economist Mark Zandi. He told me

he's optimistic that the rate of inflation is going to keep going back to normal, though he did warn that could change if higher tariffs and mass deportations are on the way.

Andrew Lester, Pamela, we know that higher tariffs and mass deportations are two key campaign promises from the president-elect.

BROWN: That's true.

Let's talk a little bit more about homeownership, right, the American dream, and how it's just gotten drastically more expensive.

EGAN: Yes, it really, really has.

There's a new report out from Oxford Economics, and it finds that households have to make $107,000 a year in order to be able to buy a new single family home and pay for home insurance and property taxes. That is almost double where things were before COVID in 2019.

Now, this is obviously because not only have home prices gone up, but mortgage rates are so much higher than they used to be, and home insurance has gotten more expensive. Now, people are making more money too, but often not enough. The same report finds that just about one in three, 36 percent of households can afford to buy a new home today.

[11:35:12]

That is down sharply from 59 percent before COVID. Now, as far as where it's least affordable to buy a home, some of the likely suspects are on that list, right, West Coast cities like San Francisco, L.A., San Diego, Boston, and New York on the East Coast and Miami.

All of those cities, you need to bring in over $200,000 a year to buy a new home. And in San Jose, you have to make more than $400,000. And listen, Pamela, I have talked to a number of millennials who they're renting, they have kids or they want kids, they want to buy, but they just can't, right, not at these prices, not at these mortgage rates.

It is very, very frustrating. And it does feed the sense that the American dream is just out of reach for far too many people right now.

BROWN: Yes, so many Americans feel that way, what you just laid out,

Matt Egan, thank you so much.

EGAN: Thanks, Pamela.

BROWN: And still ahead for you this hour: Former Pentagon officials just went before members of Congress and accused the government of hiding evidence of alien life forms and UFOs.

The stunning evidence they claim to have seen -- just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:39]

BROWN: It has been a week since racist text messages began popping up on cell phones across the nation. It was so disturbing.

The messages targeted black Americans in the days after Kamala Harris lost the election and referenced picking cotton and plantations. The head of the NAACP says Donald Trump's victory has emboldened people to spread hate.

Joining us now, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. His office is investigating this case.

Matthew, first off, what more do we know about the origins of these texts?

MATTHEW PLATKIN, NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, as you said, Pamela, this -- these horribly racist texts that went both throughout New Jersey to kids as young as 13 or 14 years old, as well as to college students and to kids and students in states across the country, the day and the days after the election are horrifying.

And we are actively investigating this matter. And I assure you that we, along with several other states, will work tirelessly to identify the source of these texts and related texts and hold accountable anyone who would send it to threaten our kids.

BROWN: So you still don't know who sent the texts?

PLATKIN: We are -- as I said, this is an active investigation, so I can't provide an update as to the source of it, but, rest assured, we are providing every tool...

BROWN: But you can say whether you know the source or not or whether you think you know the source or whether you're zeroing in on it.

Can you give us any clarity on that?

PLATKIN: We are working to identify the source, along with several other authorities across the country.

BROWN: I get -- how does this -- how can this happen, where someone can just anonymously send these horrific text messages to individuals across the country?

PLATKIN: Well, look, we have seen several platforms, both text messages and social media, be used to push out incredibly hateful language, both in the days leading up to and the days after the election.

We have seen white supremacists use social media platforms to push out incredibly misogynistic tropes against women. We have seen these types of racist texts referring to plantations and slaves sent across the country.

And so both I think we need to look at the source ultimately of who's pushing out this language, as well as the platforms that are allowing this type of language to spread, often in violation of their own terms of service, the own rules that they set for themselves and make sure that they are following those.

And if they don't, as states' attorneys general, we will step in to hold them accountable to keep our residents safe.

BROWN: All right, Matthew Platkin, thank you for coming on.

PLATKIN: Thank you for having me, Pamela.

BROWN: We are not alone in the cosmos. That is what a former Defense Department official told Congress during its latest hearing on UFOs.

Listen to some of the testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIS ELIZONDO, FORMER DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Let me be clear. UAP are real. Advanced technologies not made by our government or any other government are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe. Furthermore, the U.S. is in possession of UAP technologies, as are some of our adversaries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Tom Foreman joins us to help sort this out -- Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think that was clear at all.

It's clear what they're saying, but this has been considered several times in past years. Earlier this year, the Pentagon said there is simply no evidence that there's some alien source bringing this in here.

Nonetheless, what was clear in this hearing was that these folks out there with concerns like Mr. Elizondo there want the government to not only be more formal in its collecting of information, especially when we have these videos that come out of airplanes and things like that showing some things that seem to be unexplained. They're not sure what to make out of those.

BROWN: I think we have some video, right, some unexplained...

FOREMAN: I think we might in a moment here.

But when you see these things...

BROWN: Here we go.

FOREMAN: Yes, here we go.

People look at this and they say, well, what is that? And pilots say, what is that? And what method are we using to track it? What do we know about it? How can we explain it? The question here is, it from outer space? I'm going to say, until there's evidence, no. And the Pentagon has basically said there's no evidence of that. Is it some kind of advanced weapon or surveillance technology that is

being developed somewhere in the world, whether by governments or by private companies? That's one of the other things they sort of nod at here.

And that former DOD official actually spoke specifically to that idea. Listen to what he said about the idea that maybe that's what's happening here and people just haven't been told.

[11:45:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZONDO: If this was an adversarial technology, this would be an intelligence failure eclipsing that of 9/11 by an order of magnitude.

I believe that we as Americans can handle the truth. And I also believe the world deserves the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

FOREMAN: I'm not sure we can handle the truth after this year.

(LAUGHTER)

FOREMAN: No, it's a big thing right now for them.

BROWN: Fair.

FOREMAN: But here's the thing when you think about this.

What they're claiming is that these things fly at 10,000, 15,000 miles an hour. We don't know how to track them. We don't know what they are. And, largely, we're relying on cell phone video or people using the recording related to the weaponry on various military planes, and that there should be something more advanced than this.

Bottom line is, the Pentagon is coming out with a statement later on today, one of their reports, which is embargoed until about an hour from now, something like that. But I would be shocked if it said anything different than what they have said before, which is, look, we're taking this stuff seriously. We're looking at this stuff seriously.

There's just no evidence of it being extraterrestrial in any way. Yes, maybe, maybe it's some kind of advanced weapon system or something that we just don't know about in the world. Those things are always being developed. And it's worth noting that our government has developed weapons in the past that the public has not known about until they deployed, for strategic reasons.

So I guess we will find out. I don't think the debate is going away.

BROWN: It's not. It's actually interesting that it's becoming more mainstream, if you will, in terms of now that -- congressional hearings and so forth.

FOREMAN: People see mysterious, odd things, and they don't know what to do about them. I...

BROWN: And the thing is, look, we should know what they -- we should have a curiosity about it.

FOREMAN: That's what I say about some of the things I find in the back of my refrigerator. It's mysterious, odd. I don't know where it came from, but I need to address it.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Especially here at CNN.

FOREMAN: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: All right, Tom Foreman, thanks so much for breaking it down for us.

FOREMAN: You're welcome.

BROWN: Still ahead this hour: Are they too good to be true? Chances are, you or someone you know have tried one of these wildly popular new drugs to lose weight.

We're going to ask CNN's favorite doctor, Sanjay Gupta, about the latest research. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:28]

BROWN: Drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro are pretty much household names now. You probably know someone who's on it or maybe you're on it. They have been called miracle drugs, but are they right for you?

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been leading a yearlong investigation into them. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What it did help me was not have a whole lot of thoughts about food. My cravings went away.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Those voices in her head that had made her crave food -- experts call it food chatter -- they were silenced.

And that is part of the magic of these new medications. GLP-1 seems to act in a way that no other known hormone can. Here's how it seems to work. Every time you eat, all sorts of hormones are released, like GLP-1. They are called post-nutrient hormones. They travel here to the hypothalamus in the brain to tell you that you are full or satiated.

They also travel over here to the pancreas to kick out more insulin to help absorb the energy you just consumed, and also over here to your gut to slow down the emptying, allowing you to better digest your food. In so many ways, it seems like the perfect hormone to help you stop eating as much.

Seemed perfect for Rashida (ph). In that first year, she lost 100 pounds. It changed her life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Sanjay Gupta joins us now.

So, Sanjay, tell us a little bit more about this. How have these drugs changed our understanding of obesity as a disease?

GUPTA: Well, first of all, to be clear, these are not medications for everyone.

But I think what we have learned in some ways as a result of these medications is that obesity in many ways can be thought of as a brain disease, even more so than a disease of your stomach or your intestines. As you just saw there in that clip, the idea that, when you eat, there are these hormones that should go to these areas of your brain that are responsible for the feelings of fullness or satiation, for some people, they just don't seem to have as much of that.

So they have that constant food chatter. And, Pamela, it was really interesting spending time with people, people who are eating and already thinking about their next meal, people who became very anxious, worried that they had enough food in their pantry closets, for example.

That sort of thermostat, that food chatter for them is really, really loud. And that seems to be what's contributing. And in those cases, the medications seemed to help, because it was targeting the brain, not just again, the gut.

BROWN: What do we know about the long-term effects?

GUPTA: Well, I'd say two things about this.

First of all, the medications have been around a lot longer than we realize. I think they sort of really started to make a splash a few years ago. But there have been approved versions of these medications for well over a decade. So you do have some long-term data.

What we don't know as much about is people who are taking these medications off-label. So they're not medically -- deemed medically necessary, but they're still taking that. We don't really know what the long-term impact is for them, because there's just no data on that.

The other thing I think is really important, and kept coming up in scientist after scientist that we spoke to around the world, is that when you lose weight through these medications, you're losing weight through fat mass, but also through muscle mass, lean muscle mass.

And that could be a real problem, especially for older people. As you lose more of that lean muscle mass, it can predispose you to falls, can shorten your lifespan overall. So the idea that you had to have a really stringent exercise program, lifestyle changes, in addition to the medication, was important, not just a medication, but using it as a sort of burst of motivation to change your life around.

[11:55:08]

BROWN: And, very quickly, if you go off of it, it could come back right back, right?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, we found more than half the people actually did stop these medications within 12 weeks, really important data point.

And a lot of those people did gain a lot of the weight back, not everybody. People who incorporated these lifestyle changes were better able to keep the weight off. But, yes, it's -- that was a real concern as well.

BROWN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.

Don't forget to submit your questions to Sanjay about these drugs by scanning the Q.R. code on your screen right here. We're going to have him back on tomorrow to answer some of them live.

Thank you for joining us. I'm Pamela Brown.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a short break.