nges like a lot of businesses did. i heard about the payroll tax refund, it allowed us to keep the amount of people that we needed and the people that have been here taking care of us. see if your business may qualify. go to getrefunds.com. >> i don't think a lot of the problems we have right now would have surfaced if donald trump had won a second term. every country in the world seems to be the turning their back on it. >> young people are so hungry for a cause, for purpose and meaning. that's why they have flocked to wokeness. i'm going to give them a vision of american identity. >> we are not competing to get generations of voters in the ways that we should be. 9 and if the gop does not wake up to this, they're going to the lose again. >> this soft inflation number is really reinforcing the fact that we are in an inflation now. this economy is falling off of a

cliff, in our opinion. >> very concerned about bank earnings. if their stock prices start to get hit, we could have another round robin of selling off, something the market can't handle very well. ♪ fireball. ♪ ♪ stuart: 11:00, oh, this is pit bull again. [laughter] what does the ft stand for? lauren: featuring. stuart: and that, by the way, is midtown manhattan, right outside our studios. looks like it's deserted, doesn't it? and it's wednesday. it should be really lively on a wednesday, but it's not. it is 11:00 eastern time. it is wednesday, april the 12th. to the markets, please. what a turn around. we had some cooling of inflation reported at 8:30 eastern this morning. the market went straight up at 9:30 when the market opens, and now it's a mixed picture. the dow's up only 16 points and

the nasdaq down 44. as for big tech, previously all up. now only one of them's up, and that is microsoft. 26 cents, that's all you got. all of the other stocks, big techs, are down. the 10-year treasury yield, that moved sharply lower when we got the inflation report. now it's back up again. it was down to 3.37, 3.36, now it's 3.42. go figure. that's the markets on this wednesday morning, and now this. most people admit that dieting is not easy. sticking with it over the long haul is very tough. i got that. so have you heard about ozempic? discussion that treat diabetes have the very useful -- [audio difficulty] effective weight loss. we are told that most people lose at least 5% of their body weight. hollywood caught on quickly. celebrities turned to it for a

quick and reare liable weight loss fix -- reliable weight loss fix, and then it really took off to the point where pharmacies ran short. there's nothing like guaranteed the weight loss. a danish company makes ozempic, its stock has gone up 12% in the last month adding billions to the company's value. eli lilly makes another one, its stock has also gone up 12% in the last month, more billions added. look, i'm not a doctor. i don't know what the side effects are, and i make no recommendation. but the thing is many people who take these drugs get the results they want. you don't need discipline, you don't have to say no. isn't that the temptation? a likely good result without effort? however, we are moving one step closer to a a highly medicated society, already are 70% -- that's 7 out of 10 -- american adults take at least one prescription medication every single day.

14% more than back in 2019. one last pointment when you stop using ozempic or any of the others, you're likely to regain the weight you lost. how about that? third hour of "varney" starts right now. ♪ ♪ stuart: martha maccallum with us this morning on the unusual -- >> not on ozempic. [laughter] stuart: who's not on ozempic, but she is talking about the unusual subject of weight loss. this is an extraordinary trend. billions of dollars have churned into these companies because of these drugs. >> we do, it feels like we live in the future now, right? we have a.i., we have -- and we've heard about this for a long time, someday there will be a pill that you can take to prevent cancer, we hope it is, right? we hope for that day. there'll be a pill that does everything for you. i'm a very traditional person in

terms of my perspective on this. i think discipline makes you a stronger person. i think that you, most of us get the body that we deserve. [laughter] in one way or another. you know, we all have challenges when it comes to this kind of thing, but just like diets when you go off it, you regain the weight, right? when you go off the drug, you regain the weight again. and i think that, you know, whatever the side effects are of this, i don't think we have a good sense of that yet. stuart: that's true. but 70% of american adults, 7 out of 10, use at least one prescription drug every single day. a lot of people are ill, they need their medication, but 70% using every single day? that's kind of troubling. >> well, you know what pops into my head, obviously, when you get older, you need a prescription for in this or that, right? but there's a lot of young people who are now on prescription drugs for anxiety and all these things, i think that probably pumps that number a lot are. i'm amazed at the number of

young people who do have medications. some of them absolutely need them, but there's a little bit of overprescribing going on would be my guess in general in the country of. so it's an easy, quick fix, as you say, but i think we don't exactly understand all the ramifications -- stuart: slightly troubling. >> but if you're doing fruits and vegetables, lean meats, you know, ask these guys, everyone's in good shape here. [laughter] and you are as well, so there are ways to get to the same goal. stuart: at this point may i change the subject? >> please. [laughter] stuart: this is just coming in from buckingham palace, no less, prince harry will attend the coronation may the 6th, meghan will not. she will remain in california with the couple's two children. what kind of message does that send? she doesn't go, the prince does. >> interesting, right? ever since they gave up their jobs with the royal family, they lost the perks that come with the job, right?

one of those is the security. he's been very angry about the situation. he wanted his family to have the security anyway even though they stopped doing do -- doing job. my guess is that you're going to the hear that they wouldn't provide the security necessary to bring the whole family over: so that's going to be interesting. the other thing on a gut level watching all of this this over time, maybe it's easier for him to come on his own. stuart: yes, absolutely. >> right? every move that they make over there they look at, you know, every face that she makes, every this, every that. he was just in the u.k. to be part of this lawsuit that he's part of about the press. maybe he got back and said, you know what? it's just a whole lot easier when i go on my own. as many people might if feel when you have two little kids from time to time, but i think there's going to turn out to be a little more of that in this. stuart: they may have said watch out, the reaction of the brits to meghan in britain will not be good. >> she's intensely disliked in the u.k. they see her as sort of like the

yoko ono of the -- stuart: she broke up the beatles. [laughter] >> so it's a little bit, yes, she's intensely disliked over there. stuart: you deliver some great lines this mayor r morning -- this morning, martha. by the way, are you going for the coronation? >> yes. ainsley and pearce and i will be there to do team coverage. i promise it will be a spectacular day of viewing. you know from your former home country, they know how to do these things. i think probably prince charles feels like, okay, good, it's my day, i don't have to deal with everybody talking about meghan because she won't be there, so i think there's a little bit of that as well. stuart: definitely. martha, that was great. >> good to see youment. i do, i can't help it. stuart: we'll be watching you on "the story" at 3 p.m. eastern time on fox news. martha, thank you. back to the markets, please. mixed picture, i think everything's red. yes, it's. 98 minutes ago it was all green.

nowst the all red. mark tepper with me this morning. consumer prices up, what, 5.0% in the last 12 months. >> yeah. stuart: why has the market lost its gains? that inflation news was great. >> you know, when i was watching the market premarket today and it was kind of up many a little bit in the premarket, i was talking with my team, we all expected the market to end up closing lower today because when you look at the inflation report, it was benine, but it wasn't block with buster -- benign. there was nothing in there that knocked investors' socks off, apparently. when you look specifically at foot and shelter which are the sticky components of inflation, those are still running hot. and the issue now is we all know that inflation has peaked and it's the coming down, but where's it going to be six months from today, twelve months from today. i doubt it's going to be back at 3% or 20% -- 2%, right? the question is how high for how long. stuart: okay. a lot of people think the fed

will raise rates quarter point next time around, one and done, no more raises after that. realistic in. >> and i think they're banking in at least two cuts at the end of the year. stuart: cuts? >> yeah. i think that they probably should hike at the next meeting. i don't know whether or not they will, i think they probably should. and i think they should pause. they should pause and wait and see what kind of effect the has had on the market. we talked about this a few weeks ago, how the banking crisis has done a lot of the heavy lifting for the fed. and is i don't know how much that's worth, that could be worth three hikes for all i know, but if that has tightened financial conditions enough that the fed can probably get away with doing one more and pausing. stuart: okay. i would have thought that was bullish for the market, but not this morning. mark, stay there for the hour. lauren's looking at the movers, and we start with, what have we got? lauren: shopify. they help businesses build their web sites. and j and p securities upgraded them and says heir going to $64.

they're now gaining traction with big businesses too, so they've expanded past their niche of helping small businesses. so stock is doing very well today. stuart: we've got a china stock, jd.com, and and i think it's down this morning. yes, it is, 5-6%. lauren: chinese adrs are down, and the reason is geopolitical risk right now. china plans to close air space north of taiwan for a half an hour next week for these military drills. maybe there'll be missile tests during that time. either way, that's provocative and a sign of growing tensions. most chinese stocks are lore. stuart: now it's time to get to the fur by story. are you ready for this? an engineering student decided to hook up a furby toy to chatgpt, what happened? lauren: many people think that furby itself is scary, kind of that 1990s toy -- >> looks like a gremlin, right? lauren: thank you. this one was hooked up to

chatgpt by an engineering student using a.i. in the classroom, and this happened. >> hello there. it's so nice to meet you. i am furby. what would you like to talk about? >> was there a secret plot from furby to take over the world in. >> i'm thinking about what you said. furby's plan to the take over the world involves infiltrating households through their cute and cudahy appearance, then using advanced technology to manipulate and control. they will slowly expand their influence until they have complete domination over humanity. lauren: that's the fear. stuart: yeah. lauren: a.i. takes over the world, right? and that furby, the toy, a.i. potentially being used in children's toys is a scary thought for a lot of people. i think we need to change how we think about artificial intelligence. it's always us versus them, humans versus a.i. and edge. no, i hi we need to look at

it -- i think we need to look at it as humans providing the code for a.i. so we can kind of work together, otherwise you're going to be scared all the time because a.i. will be in every toy, in every industry. stuart: fascinating. lauren, thank you very much, indeed. now this, michael jordan is still breaking records. shoes from his final championship game just became the most expensive sneakers ever sold at auction. we'll tell you how much they went for, of course. look at this, it shows winnie the pooh being punched by a bear. why they're becoming extremely popular in taiwan sphwroo. donald trump contrasting his strength versus biden's apparent weakness. he says he threatened xi jinping, warning him not to invade taiwan. trump's also worried about nuclear weapons. we'll deal with all of this next. ♪ ♪

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♪ stuart: the administration says they're very confident that they can protect american interests in the south china sea. that would be taiwan. but general keith kellogg says we're not up for the fight. roll it. >> we're going to be left are out there almost by ourselves, and i'm not sure this administration's up to the this fight. this is going to come to the a head either diplomatically or militarily in the next two years, and i think force will be applied. stuart: ouch. china expert michael swain is with us now. michael, we heard that warning from kellogg, and last night trump told tucker that he's worried about china building up its nuclear arsenal. do you think we're up for a fight with china? how far will we go?

>> well, i don't think we're on the verge of a conflict with the chinese. i certainly don't think conflict is inevident9 bl, but to hear -- inevitable, but to hear people in washington talk about it and your clip sort of suggested it, you'd think that war was around the corner, so we'd all better just prepare and get down to it. that's exactly what we need to avoid. there's way too much discussion in washington and elsewhere and, frankly, on fox news from people talking about military deterrence as the only solution the keeping the taiwan situation stable. but military deterrence alone, i can tell you, will not keep taiwan stable. the chinese conclude that the u.s. has fully abandoned its one china policy in favor of a one china, one taiwan policy that makes taiwan into some kind of strategic ally for the u.s., then no amount of military deterrence will prevent china from using all its means, including military means, to counter such u.s. behavior.

stuart: so do you think that we, america, should soften our tone and be more supportive of china's position on taiwan? >> well, i definitely think we need to soften our tone. we need to really talk about what is a good way to balance deterrence with reassurance; i.e., reassurance to the chinese that we're not committed to abandoning the one china policy. but i don't think that means we have to accept the chinesing position. the chinese position is that taiwan is without question part of china, and it wants the united states to officially recognize that fact. the u.s. has never officially recognized that fact, but it has acknowledged the chinese position. it doesn't challenge it overtly. and that's the kind of delicate situation that exists on this. stuart: okay. >> it's not a question of -- stuart: you don't approve of what trump said last night on tucker, that he warned xi jinping and told him don't can invade taiwan, and if you do,

then he issued a threat. i don't know what the threat is, but it was a direct threat, and he and he says that xi partial ally believed him. you don't think that approach is the right approach. >> no, i don't think that simply saying don't attack taiwan is going to -- stuart: or else. >> yeah. right. i mean, it basically goads the chinese in some ways by saying, look, we're going to defend taiwan no matter what. well, therefore, we'll throw ou- stuart: very interesting position, michael, but ask you this: surely xi jinping is more likely to respond favorably to the kind of threat that trump made than to the nonexistent threat that biden's making. biden's saying nothing. >> no, biden is not saying nothing. in fact, biden has said some things that in some ways are very similar to what trump has said. three times biden has said,

three or four times, if china attacks taiwan, we will defend the island. that is not u.s. policy. the u.s. has not committed itself to defending taiwan. it might defend taiwan, but that is a decision up to the president in consultation with congress under the circumstances that would occur at the time. nobody seems to recognize that fact. that is u.s. policy. stuart: okay. michael, we thank you very much for your alternative position on this. we've not heard this opinion very much on this program at least, and we appreciate you being here to express it. michael swain. thank you, sir. appreciate it. >> thank you very much. stuart: you got it. look at this, this is a patch, that's what i'm showing you, and it's worn by members of taiwan's air force. it showses winnie the poo if being punched in the face by a bear holding a taiwanese flag. these things are flying off the store shelves in taiwan. here's the explanation: winnie the pooh is often used to mock

xi jinping since some people think they look similar. china has gone as far as to censor movies that feature winnie the pooh. now you know. back to the market, the dow is up all of 2 points, nasdaq down 40, s&p down 4. okay. that's the market situation. interest rates still moving lower. now this: elon musk says twitter is roughly breaking even. what more did he have to say, ashley? ashley: yeah. how roughly. musk says most of twitter's advertisers have returned, and he says its aggressive cost-cutting efforts have started bearing fruit. after all those massive layoffs, musk says twitter now has about 1500 employees. that's a huge decline from just under 8,000 staff the members before he look the over in october. some of those layoffs included engineers responsible for fixing service outages, and analysts say, guess what? social media platform has seen

six service problems since the beginning of the year. but musk says when he took over twitter, the company was a $3 billion negative cash flow situation, and he had to make hose the large scale layoffs. and as for the service outages, musk says they haven't lasted very long, and things go well, twitter could be cash flow positive this quarter, so there you go. he had to do it, he said. stuart: wow, thank you very much, ashley. cash flow positive, tepper. >> yeah. stuart: do you believe it? >> i do. i love elon musk. i admire the guy. this isn't his first rodeo jumping in to save a company that's on the verge of bankruptcy. this was an issue for tesla, i don't know, five, six years ago, i don't remember exactly when, but he was able to save tesla are if bankruptcy, and now it's the, i don't know, maybe the fifth biggest company in the united states, right? [laughter] so he did okay there. with regards the twitter, i think he's making it better. i'm all about free speech. i love his, you know, he's very

committed to making sure it's got that town hall feel to it, which is great. i don't know about the selling check mark, not a big fan of that. stuart: maybe -- >> it drives revenue, so that's good for him. stuart: mark, thanks very much, indeed. ashley, i know you're still there, i want you the tell me about this partnership between netflix and lacoste. what's going on? ashley: not going anywhere, stu. the iconic crocodile dressed up as show characters, we're told. netflix says it's going to cover eight of its most popular shows like lacoste hoping it's going to give the iconic brand a chance to appeal to a young or audience. traditionally known for tennis shirt -- polo shirts, other partnerships include bruno mars and a skater magazine. netflix says the lacoste collaboration will launch today,st designed again to appeal to romance fans and teen show enthusiasts. the eight featured shows include

stranger things, bridgerton and the witcher. stu. stuart: can't wait. all right, thanks, ash. walmart closing half its stores in chicago. they say those locations lose tens of millions of collars a year and that losses -- dollars a year and that losses have actually doubled since 2018. no wonder they're closing. we're on it. consumer prices up 5.0% in the last 12 months. i thought the inflation numbers were benign. the market doesn't think so. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ and i remember kind of thinking like, "oh my gosh, i think we could be sisters."

because i think we looked... yes. right. yeah. and i don't think at that time- i think you're the one to tell me that we had the same birthday. yes. it's really unbelievable when you think about it, because it's been, like, really over 20 years that you were my mother and father's banker, you became my banker and now fran is in her third year of college and you're her banker. it's so unbelievable because i'm just 20 years old. [laughing] sfx: [alarm] every day you get to choose. do i want more? can i grow stronger? can i get better? bodyarmor lyte. more than a sports drink. say goodbye to daily insulin injections with omnipod 5... a tubeless system that automatically adjusts insulin to help protect against highs and lows. try it today. go to omnipod.com for risk information and instructions for use. consult your doctor before starting on omnipod.

stuart: all right, let's look at the markets. the dow is up, but the s&p and nasdaq are both down. susan is back. tell me, what's going on with all these stock deals? susan: so we do have stock markets reversing, right? we were up 200 points for the dow and now slightly lore after fed officials pointing to higher rates in the past hour, cooling inflation sure this morning, but you're still looking at 5% inflation and two-thirds, more than 70% of wall street, expects

one more rate hike next month of 25 basis points from the federal reserve. also bank of canada the in the past hour holding rates for a second straight the meeting. so that global rate-hiking cycle looks to be coming to an end at least for now, and maybe that's why we're looking at more deal activity. brookfield is looking to buy a shipping container licer -- leaser, also emerson electric closing many on a deal to buy national instruments, and the e.u. through some -- i threw some cold water on the $60 billion transaction between chipmaker broadcom which is an apple supplier and vmware. stuart: american airlines, around $14 a share -- no, it's 13 -- susan: preemptive profit warning which pretty much took down the entire sector. americans looking at the worst day for the stock in over a year's time, and that's because they gave a range, so they're going to earn one penny to five

cents, i call this kind of a hedge on their bets which wall street is not reacting well to. they're fill going to make money, but they -- still going to the make money, but higher labor and fuel costs are hurting their bottom line despite the fact that you have an air travel boom, and it's going to be expensive to travel this summer. stuart: tomorrow the banks start rolling out earnings. >> that's right. and warren buffett, oracle of omaha, he said that the banking crisis is not over yet. more bank failures are likely. also i was just blown away by this statistic. did you know top u.s. banks said that they saw the the big deposit drop many in a decade? if -- in a decade? $521 billion were taken out in the first quarter of this year. that's half a trillion dollars right there that were taken out by depositors because they are concern about the silicon valley bank collapse and whether or not their money is safe. stuart: that is a huge number. i have not heard it before. good stuff. thanks, susan. let's get back to the inflation

report. consumer prices up 5% in the last 12 months. connell mcshane with me. what was the biggest driver in this inflation report? >> reporter: food and shelter, stuart, two things, you know, we kind of need, right? gasoline prices did come down, which is interesting. prices on some other items came down and, you know, everybody seems they're trying to figure out the market. interest rates as you've been reporting on your show came down, still down a little bit, but not because there's an all clear on inflation, by no means, but probably because there was no big upside surprise in this late reading. but, you know, the market's off where it was certainly in the stock market as well has been back and forth. 5.6% annual, cpi, that's right in line with expectations. the monthly numbers, again, the trends are similar. but what's interesting is went we start to dig in and look at the directions of certain individual items, it's mixed. susan was talking about airline fares, and they're up. hotel prices are up.

housing-related costs, that's shelter, they're up. and we're paying a lot more, the old favorites, eggs and flour and chicken, on and on, bread and coffee, all significantly higher than where we were last year. but-then you flip it over to -- ask you start to think about what's coming down, energy costs have come down. gas prices fell, used cars and trucks down more than 11% from a year ago. medical care down at least a little bit in price. and you add it all up, jerome powell and the federal reserve have this decision to make may 3rd, do the they raise rates at least a quarter of a point? as of now the most likely answer -- as it was, by the way, before the number came out -- is, yes, they will. before the cpi, traders in the futures market were figuring there was a better than 75% chance of that quarter-point hike. it dipped a little bit, down to about 65%, i just looked, it's back up into the 70s again. i would say, stuart, the bottom line here is not much has

changed. you have a fed that wants 2%, we're at 5%, they still have work to do. that's where we are. stuart: understood. connell, thank you very much, indeed. peter morici is with us in this morning with more on the cpi. peter, it would seem that inflation is winding down and the market expects just one more 25 basis points hike for the federal reserve. do you see it like that? >> inflation is slowing down. i wouldn't say that it is winding all the way down. if we look at core services, they're clipping along. you take services less energy and housing, and it's still clipping along at a pretty nice pace, 6 or 7%. and mr. powell looks at that, and well he should because that's really where the hot spot is. and we need to see more progress there. one of the things to remember is mr. biden has started to pack the board. we have goolsby there now, cook and all that, and it's the an article of faith on the left that inflation is not a problem

and that raising interest rates doesn't do much good anyway. stuart: so you don't can think -- what do you think, that the fed can and should raise rates at least one more time? is that where you're coming from? >> oh, yes. i think it should the raise rates one more time, and i think it should continue raising rates, because i don't think we're out of the woods. but i don't know that it will raise rates more than one more time. i think we're going to get one more rate increase and then it's going to pause. but we have to see additional data between now and six weeks from now. stuart: inflation concern i used the wrong phrase, wining down, but it is cooling -- >> oh, absolutely. it's not what it was before, but it's still at an intolerable level. i mean, you know, we're going to get a break the second half of the year because the lower rents we had the end of last year will finally filter through. but if you go into 2024, i think we're looking at inflation stabilizing at around 4%. i don't like that. i don't think that's acceptable. now, the question is, will the

fed see it that way. stuart: i think the fed will see it that way. i think they'll say that 4% is acceptable because they don't want to crash the economy. last word to you -- >> stocks. stocks become critical here because my feeling is, you know, goldman sachs says stocks are going to tank again. the market's looking forward beyond this quarter's profitability, and they're very concerned about where interest rates go. i think the market shares your expectation the about jay powell and interest rates, that he'll accept 4% inflation. the that context, american companies are going to do the fine. they'll be able to raise prices, they'll start growing their profits the second half. so as i said earlier this year when you said the stock market, i said wait for the second half. my feeling is in the second half they will start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and that's when we'll see the recovery in stock prices really begin. stuart: can't wait. peter morici, good stuff. thank you very much, peter. >> take care. stuart: you got it, man, thanks.

how about? arnold schwarzenegger just picked up a new job doing road work in los angeles. we'll tell you why he was just spotted fill anything a giant pothole. yes, he kid. a politician in san francisco blames the lack of police as whole foods shuts down its flagship store. san franciscos has 300 fewer officers. a big problem all around the country. kelly o'grady has the report after this. ♪ trouble, yeah, trouble now, i'm trouble y'all -- ♪ i got trouble in my town ♪ asking the right question can greatly impact your future. - are, are you qualified to do this? - what? - especially when it comes to your finances.

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♪ ♪ stuart: that is chicago, by the way. a nice, sunny day. it's the 71 degrees, not bad for mid april in chicago. a pair of signed michael jordan

sneakers worn in the nba finals just sold for a record $2.2 million. the previous record for a shoe auction was $1.8 million. tepper's with me. are those sneakers at $2.2 million an investment? >> oh, without a doubt. i mean, look, over the course of the last few years specifically with last year, both stocks and bonds were down, i don't know, 15-20 each, so investors are now looking outside traditional investments, they're looking for things that are non-correlatedded, art, wine, sports memorabilia, absolutely. only issue is it's liquidity-constrained, so it's not something that you can immediately sell quickly. but real quick, my favorite quote from michael jordan ever, republicans buy sneakers too. [laughter] stuart: good one, i like that. that was a long timing ago. >> yeah, years ago. stuart: thanks very much, mark. walmart's going to close four stores if chicago. i believe that's half total number of stores they've got there. ash, how much money were they losing? ashley: yeah. millions and millions.

walmart says despite trying all sorts of different strategies, it was left with no choice but to close the forfour stores primarily in urban chicago. the company saying in part, quote, the simplest explanation is collectively our chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one merely 17 years ago. these stores -- nearly 17 years ago. these stores lose tens of millions of collars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years. walmart didn't give my reasons about why the stores have been losing so much money, they say theft was not a driving factor, but affected workers will be eligible to transfer to work at other walmart locations. local leaders say these closures will leave a huge void in the communities that they serve. stu. stuart: theft and crime were not factors? i don't believe it. but that's just me. ashley: that's what they say. stuart: that's just me. thanks, ash. crime has become a major reason for companies to close up shop all over the place.

a shottage of police officers -- shortage of police officers are not helping either. kelly o'grady, what have you got? >> reporter: the closing of that industries whole foods really highlights -- san francisco whole foods. that issue, the resulting crime is plaguing cities across the nation, as you said. between january 2020 and january '22, total officers decreaseed 23%. a 42.7% jump in that same period. san francisco is a prime example of a city feeling those shortages. its police force of roughly 1900 understaffed by a whopping 541 officers. its mayor, who was once a big proproponent of the defund the police movement, now tells fox business, quote, we need to continue ramping up our recruitment and retention efforts to insure we have the police staffing necessary to have more officers in our neighborhoods. if hope is it's not too little too late. once known for its vibrant -- sf

faces soaring property theft and homelessness, telling us the lack of police and enforcement is hurting their economy. >> we can't kohl -- tolerate an environment in san francisco or anywhere in which crime is just acceptable and justified based on, you know, social issues. we also have to, you know, catch, detain the perpetrators and let potential criminals know that they're at risk of going to jail. >> reporter: and jim shared with me they're so fed up with crime, they're self-funding advertisements aimed at recruiting law enforcement. stuart, i was shocked when i learned that, but it really does underscore how serious businesses are about turning the economy around. stuart: well said. kelly, thank you very much, indeed. it's that time when we show you the dow 30, and we always say you get a sense of the market. well, here's the market. just about an even split, fairly even, half up, half down.

the dow is up a mere 51 points, 33,700. today the the epa will announce their toughst limits ever on tailpipe emissions. okay. this is, in my opinion, this is just another way to force people into electric vehicles. grady trimble has our report after this. ♪ ♪ i'm on a highway to hell, on a highway to hell. ♪ highway to hell, i'm on a highway to hell ♪

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stuart: a pothole in los angeles got so bad that arnold schwarzenegger decided to fix it. watch this. >> you're welcome. [laughter] do it yourself. this is crazy. for three weeks i've been waiting for this hole to be closed. stuart: people in the neighborhood had been complaining for weeks, they said it was damaging their high-end cars. that's why schwarzenegger stepped in. good for him. administration announced new limits on tailpipe emissions, grady trimble is with us. these requirements are all about climate change, right, grady? >> reporter: they are, stu. the biden administration says

these proposed are regulations on tailpipe emissions will reduce do greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere as a result of driving. they also say the goal is to get more americans behind the wheels of electric vehicles. the goal is for electric vehicles to make up more than two-thirds of all new vehicles sold by 2032, but there are some questions about whether that's actually doable. on top of the concerns about the costs of electric vehicles whether there are enough chargers across the country and whether the power grid can handle all of these new vehicles, the move to to electric could also give more power to china. that's where most ev batteries come are from, as you know, and chinese companies also have a hand in building new ev battery plants here in the u.s. in michigan. >> we can't put ourselves in a position where the supply chain is going to be controlled by the chinese communist party. an industry where we are in its infancy, now is the time to

position america and our allies to be competitive in that industry and not cede it to the chinese communist party. >> reporter: the new rules take effect starting with model year 2027 vehicles going through model year 2032 the vehicles. s the certainly an ambitious goal, stu, because right now ev sales only make up about 6% of all new vehicle sales. so to get to two-thirds, we'll see. stuart: very ambitious. thank you, grady. if let's bring in congressman dan newhouse, republican from if washington state. this administration is not usint legislation to force us into a new way of life. i've got a problem with that. how about you? >> you know, i think concern good morning, stu. i appreciate being with you today. that's exact arely the reaction -- exactly the reaction i'm hearing from my constituents. you know, as americans, we

really bristle at the government telling us what we can and can't do, particularly when it comes to our transportation. i'm sitting here in north-central washington state looking at snow-covered mountains. ev vehicles, certainly they have a place but not in the northern parts of our country where their range is really compromised in cold weather. the issue is being old what to do here. stuart: they're seriously threatening us here. they want to get to two-thirds of all new vehicles sold in america in 2032, two-thirds have to be electric vehicles. i can't see us getting there. that's highly ambitious. it's going to be very painful squeezing us into that statistic. what do you say? >> it's going to be very expensive a too. it's forcing consumers to buy something that maybe they don't want, ignoring -- and i hate to use an old cliche, but you've heard the cliche of picking winners and losers.

evs have definitely a place, but what about other options that we have besides the internal combustion engine which is getting better and cleaner as wism prove technology, what about hydrogen cars? there are other options. but here we have the government eling the us it has to be an ev -- telling us it has to be an ev. stuart: last point, can you stop this? what can you do? >> through legislation, we can. there are steps that we can take to curb this. but this is -- you've got to recognize that this is a concerted effort by this administration. the government is incrementally moving us in this direction, and it's going to be very difficult to start to stop. but we can. we can do all we -- a lot of different things to slow down this movement in this direction. stuart: let's hope you can succeed there, sir. we appreciate you being with us, congressman. i hope you can come again, keep us up to speed with what's going on with the ev market. good stuff. thank you, sir. >> thank you, stuart.

stuart: it's # 1:55, and that means it's time for the wednesday trivia question. it's a good one. how many degrees can an owl twist its neck? 240, 270, 300, 330? what is it? the answer after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ . . bodyarmor lyte. more than a sports drink.

stuart: it was a good question. i don't know the answer but i probably will guess. how many degrees can an owl

twist its neck? there are the choice on the screen. ashley, what is your guess. >> they're so cool. i will go with the most. 3330. stuart: number four. >> i know they can turn and i will to with 300, number three. the. stuart: i will to with three. the anticipates is 270. they can turn their head without causing any damage to their bodies. we cover it all. it is incredible, it really is. thank you, mark, ashley, all good stuff. see you again tomorrow. that is it for "varney & company" at least for today. "coast to coast" starts now. neil: read it and leap. stocks jumping because inflation is not jumping or not jumping as much. that does not mean the federal