Jonathan Kearsley: US Correspondent on Government shutdown, Trump's 'fat shot', and Elon Musk's trillion dollar pay package

Donald Trump has announced to reduce the costs of some weight loss drugs, or as he calls them 'fat shots'.

The Trump administration claims that Americans could lose 61 billion kilogrammes combined because of this deal.

A US$1 trillion pay package, endorsed by Tesla shareholders, could be headed for Elon Musk .

Meanwhile, the Government shutdown, which has now reached 37 days, is leading to flight delays and cancellations at US airports. 

Jonathan Kearsley told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "what this is now doing is spreading the pain far beyond federal workers ... straight into American travellers."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jonathan Cursley, US correspondence with US. Hello Jonathan, Hello Heather,
Happy Friday to you. Happy Friday to you too. How
long are the lines at the airports. Yeah, well they're
going to get bad because if effectively in the next
few hours, we're going to see this reduction in es
but in plains in the sky come into effect because
they simply aren't and other air traffic controllers on the

(00:22):
job because of the government shutdown. They're not getting paid.
They're deemed crucial workers, so they're supposed to be turning up,
but they're now running into the problem where workers aren't
getting paid, so they're deciding not to turn up to work.
So what this is going to mean is there'll be
thousands of flights across the United States of America tomorrow
that will be canceled, that will be delayed. It is
going to have a major impact at forty major airports,

(00:44):
including Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, the
world's busiest airport is going to be impacted, Dallas Fort
Worth in Texas. I mean, the list just goes on
and on and on, And what this is now doing
is spreading the pain far beyond federal workers of this
government shutdown into American travelers trying to get away in
a lead up to what is one of the busiest

(01:05):
holiday periods of the year here in the United States,
and that is Thanksgiving. Yeah, that's awkward, isn't it. On
the bright side, is the fat shot getting cheaper? Yes,
this so called fat shot is. President Trump once described
it as o Zeenviic and a few other weight loss
drugs are about to get cheaper because he's decided to
strike a deal with a whole bunch of medical companies.

(01:26):
Making that announcement inside the Oval Office today a little
bit of drama. One of the medical executives collapsed while
standing behind President Trump just as they were making that
set announcement. But it is going to reduce the cost
by hundreds and hundreds of dollars for Americans. Obviously, overhere,
medical insurance is the key to getting access to healthcare.

(01:46):
But these deals are going to make it a little
bit easier for people overweight people to get access to
this drug. And we heard doctor Oz TV's owned doctor
Roz who's now part of the Trump administration sprooking and
selling this very much of the political message in mind
ahead of next year's midterms, insisting that Americans could lose
some sixty one billion kilograms combined because of this deal.

(02:11):
I don't quite know how you work out those numbers,
but somebody's drawn them up on the back of a
napkin and presented them to him, and he's read them
out in front of the world. Brilliant, isn't it. Now?
What would you do if you've got a trillion dollars? Ah?
What could you do with a trillion dollars? I mean,
you could probably fly yourself to Mars, you could probably
buy yourself a fair few islands. You could have more
money than the GDP of some Pacific island nations. It's

(02:35):
just extraordinary, this Elon Musk deal, isn't it. It's going
to equate over the next ten years, or it could
equate to two hundred and seventy five million dollars a day.
That's how big this paid deal is for him. It's
just I mean, you can live off the interest of
a fraction of that. I mean, come on alone, spread
them wealth. I reckon, I share it round. Thank you

(02:56):
very much, Jonathan, appreciate it. Jonathan Kurzley, US correspondent for
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