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CNN This Morning

Consumer Price Gains are Slowing; Scott Kirby is Interviewed about United's Future; Bomani Jones is Interviewed about Griner's Prisoner Swap. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 13, 2022 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: More than we used to be. Now, why is it that we have more twin births than we used to have. Well, there are a bunch of different reasons but I think that there are a few potential ones I want to point out. There are more older moms. And when you're above the age of 45 or even as you just kind of climb up, it's not just one sudden jump, more older moms equals more - a higher chance of twin births. Also, an increase in in vitro fertilization births, and that is highly correlated with more births - more twin births. So more twin births because of the changing stuff of motherhood.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: That's so interesting. And I care about this because my nephews are identical twins.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And adorable.

COLLINS: And my sister, she gets asked that. They're so adorable but they're bad. They're four and a half. They're not bad. She probably watching.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they're four and a half.

HARLOW: They need to mee Lucca.

LEMON: Your sister's going, thank you, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: She's like - I know, I've got to clarify that. They're so funny. I think this is like their funniest age.

But, Harry, you know, with the increase that you're talking about there, are there more identical twins, like my nephews, or is it more fraternal twins that are being born?

ENTEN: It's more fraternal. Fraternals are going up. Identicals are staying about the same. Fraternals are now about two-thirds of all twin births. So, really interesting data, at least as far as I'm concerned.

COLLINS: Harry -- what would we do if there were two of Harry?

ENTEN: Oh, God.

HARLOW: Oh, my gosh. Be twice as smart.

ENTEN: Oh, please. No, no, no, no, no, no. I have to live with the thoughts in my own head.

LEMON: No.

ENTEN: Please, no more. I don't have to hear myself double the time.

HARLOW: Thank you.

COLLINS: Harry Enten, thanks for all that.

ENTEN: Thank you.

COLLINS: All right, any moment now, the Labor Department is going to release a key report. It will give you a glimpse into the impact of inflation in the last month. We will break down the numbers with none other than Christine Romans.

HARLOW: And United Airlines just placed a historic and history-making order for at least 100 new Boeing planes this morning. So, what does that tell you about this economy? United Airline's CEO Scott Kirby joins us next.

LEMON: We do not need any more Harry Entens.

COLLINS: My sister's going to text me, I feel like.

HARLOW: We do need more Harrys.

LEMON: One is enough.

HARLOW: Think how much wiser we would all be more Harrys.

LEMON: And how exhausted we -

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[08:35:52]

COLLINS: All right, the Labor Department just released the November Consumer Price Index report. It is the key inflation indicator. So here to break it down is our key CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans.

What do the numbers show us?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK, 7.1 percent. That's the lowest reading since December 2021.

COLLINS: Wow.

LEMON: So, you said it's good, but it's bad.

ROMANS: Look, it's still too high. There's nothing normal about 7.1 percent inflation. Let's be clear here. I mean this is all the - the -- what you're paying at the grocery store, you know, these prices, shelter is still going up, but going up much more slowly. We're seeing that peaking in the inflation rate that we want to see.

When I dig into these numbers, when you strip out food and energy, you have this core rate up 6 percent. That's the coolest in some time. Month to month, only up a little tiny bit. So, again, that's going in the right direction. When you look at that chart, it shows that the worst inflation that we've suffered over the past year may be behind us. This could be evidence that the Fed's very, very aggressive medicine is starting to work.

And I'll tell you, on Wall Street, they loved this number this morning. Immediately the Dow jumped something like 700 points in pre- market action because they think this means the Fed is on the right track. You can start to see maybe some slower interest rate increases, maybe 50 basis points tomorrow. Look, you're going to see maybe a 2 percent move in the Dow. And look at the Nasdaq. That's very rate sensitive. The Nasdaq, 3 percent. That's a big one-day move if that should hold here.

So, again, I am not ready to declare that inflation has been defeated because whenever you go to the grocery store you're still grumbling. But - but we can see that maybe the peak is in and the worst is behind us.

COLLINS: And maybe a better indication than where we were at this time last year when we were hearing from -

ROMANS: That's right.

COLLINS: Key officials that they thought it was going to fall. It obviously had not enough here.

ROMANS: And they were so wrong. They were so wrong. Which is why we're all so gun shy about trying to say what's going to happen next with inflation. But at least for now, energy prices down, shelter prices are still up, so people, you know, looking at rent and housing, that's still kind of a hot spot in the economy.

HARLOW: Yes.

ROMANS: But, overall, cooling. Too high, but cooling. That's my headline.

COLLINS: Good but bad.

LEMON: Yes, that's what I was going to say, good but bad.

HARLOW: Good but bad.

ROMANS: Less bad.

HARLOW: Less bad. We'll take it.

LEMON: Good but less bad.

HARLOW: OK.

COLLINS: All right, Christine Romans, thank you for that.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

HARLOW: All right, so, this just in, United Airlines just placed an order for up to 200 Boeing planes this morning. That's split between the 737 Max and the 787 Dreamliner. United calls this the largest wide body aircraft order ever by a U.S. carrier in commercial aviation history.

What does this tell us about the state of our economy? Where is that recession so many are fearing? United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby joins us from Boeing in Charleston, South Carolina.

Good morning, sir. It's good to have you.

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: Good morning. A pleasure to be here.

HARLOW: All right, so what should we make of this? These are big planes, largely used for overseas international flights. Why these planes? Why so many? Why now?

KIRBY: Well, you know, this is a really big step for United. But it's just following what we really started two years ago during the middle of the pandemic when we thought demand would fully recover and started taking steps to prepare United to uniquely take advantage of assets (ph).

We're coming out of this as really the flag carrier of the United States and the leading airline around the globe. And this is just the next step in that path to, one, replace some of our older 767s that are at the end of their life, but also to create growth opportunities for the years to come in the international arena for United Airlines.

HARLOW: I've got to ask you, this is a huge vote of confidence for Boeing. No surprise you're doing this from Boeing.

KIRBY: Yes.

HARLOW: Because these two planes have been previously plagued with issues. Obviously, the 737 Max was grounded for over a year after two fatal crashes in 2019. The Dreamliner had grounded eight of those in August of 2020 to inspect for some concerns. Why are you so confident in Boeing despite all that?

KIRBY: We are confident in Boeing. We have a great partnership with Boeing. And, you're right, they had a few tough years. But I think that's made us stronger.

You know, I am close to it and I know the work that they've done to really strengthen their process, really focus on quality control. And I think they're coming through this stronger than they - than they were before, and better.

[08:40:02]

And we've always had a great partnership with Boeing.

They're also one of the most important companies in the United States. They're our largest exporter of high-tech manufacturing jobs, great careers here in the United States. So, this was the right decision for United Airlines. But we're also proud to be able to support, you know, an important American company.

HARLOW: All right, let's talk about the economy because I wanted to have you on after I heard you on another not to be named but excellent morning show the other week saying, where's the recession? I don't see a recession.

KIRBY: Yes.

HARLOW: And we just heard Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, say on "60 Minutes," inflation will be much lower by the end of next year.

KIRBY: Yes.

HARLOW: And she doesn't really see a recession either. Do you think she's right?

KIRBY: Yes. You know, look, we're planning as if there's going to be a mild recession next year. And, you know, a lot of people in the business world are trying to talk ourselves into one is what it sometimes feels like to me.

But what I said last week is, you know, if I didn't watch business shows or read "The Wall Street Journal," the word recession wouldn't be in my vocabulary because we just don't see it in our data. In fact, every month we set new records. You know, a lot of what's happening I think is a return to normalcy. People bought hard goods and online during the pandemic, and couldn't travel, couldn't go to restaurants, couldn't get their haircut. But we're just coming back to normal. And it feels like a recession to some, but it feels great to all of us here in the services industries.

HARLOW: All right. Well, I hope you're right.

Ed Bastion, CEO of Delta Airlines, came on CNN THIS MORNING a few weeks ago and said with us and said, no layoffs, we are hiring. Quote, we're still hiring a lot.

Is United hiring?

KIRBY: Yes. Yes, we are going to hire 15,000 people next year, another 15,000 in - or 15,000 in 2022, and another 15,000 in 2023.

You know, we create great careers for people where - where our people mostly stay to retirement. And we're proud of that. We're able to hire and excited to be creating great careers that are more than just a job. They're where people can support a family.

HARLOW: Yes. I do want to ask you, right, because we are all -- we talk about it on this set a lot, plane tickets are and have been for recent months very, very expensive.

KIRBY: Yes.

HARLOW: And during the pandemic, I know it was to save jobs and keep people employed, but, you know, the airline industry got a lot of money from the government, a $50 billion bailout from Congress. And you look at the Consumer Price Index for airline tickets and it's up about 30 percent in terms of the last reading.

KIRBY: Yes.

HARLOW: Can you help us understand if they're going to go down? Are -- why are they so high?

KIRBY: So, well, I -- what I'd tell you is, prices today are still 40 percent to 50 percent -- in real terms, are 40 percent to 50 percent lower than they were just about a decade ago. And, yes, they went way, way down during the pandemic. So, the inflation numbers could vary. (INAUDIBLE) the middle of a pandemic are probably not the right thing to compare to.

But air travel remains a great value. You know, you're frequently going to pay less for your airline ticket than one night at your hotel room or your rental car. So, air travel remains a great value. But I think the ultra-low prices that happen, you know, during the depth of the pandemic are probably in the rear-view mirror and they should be in the rear view mirror because, frankly, airlines wouldn't have been able to survive at that kind of pricing.

HARLOW: Yes.

Pilot shortages. That's a big issue not just for you guys but a lot of carriers. Any impact on holiday travel from here on out?

KIRBY: Well, there certainly won't be an impact in the near term. And at United, we're actually able to hire pilots. We hired 2,400 this year. We're going to hire another 2,500 next year. Because we're at the top of the pyramid for - from a pilot perspective, we're able to hire.

It is impacting some of the lower, you know, carriers lower down in that pyramid, but mostly what they'll do is just not schedule as many flights. I don't think you're going to see the kind of disruptions that happen, you know, Christmas of last year, particularly when omicron hit. So whether it's just a pilot shortage, omicron hit during the middle of the holidays. I don't think you're going to see that at any airline this year.

HARLOW: Yes. It's just fewer flights means, you know, less seats and more expensive tickets.

But before you go, quickly, two things. I was reading your announcement last night and totally fascinated by something very, very deep in it on climate change.

KIRBY: Yes. HARLOW: You guys say, United has the ambitious goal to be 100 percent green in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 without relying on carbon offsets.

KIRBY: Yes. Yes.

HARLOW: You cannot achieve that without offsets if you're flying planes feud by fossil fuels. Does that mean in 2050 your planes will be fueled by batteries, like that investment you just made in that battery company?

KIRBY: Yes, well, here's -- you know, batteries are probably not going to be the solution. But there is a solution to be 100 percent green without using traditional carbon offsets. And look, this is something I'm personally passionate about. So, thank you for asking.

One is sustainable aviation fuel. We're the world leader there. We have more commitment to (INAUDIBLE) than all the rest of the world's airlines combined right now. And we're investing heavily in turning that into a real commercial scale industry. And that creates fuel, you know, that is essentially net zero.

And the second one is carbon sequestration. And so rather than the easy to do let's plant trees - there's nothing wrong with planting trees, but you just can't scale that to the size that the globe needs.

[08:45:08]

We are investing with occidental at (ph) 1.5 in the world's, you know, first commercial scale carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is going to be, I think, the future, not just for aviation, but if we want to get the globe, you know, to 1.5 or even to 2 degrees, we're going to have to have a big push on carbon sequestration.

HARLOW: I hope you're right. Capturing the carbon and sequestering it into the earth, it doesn't get into the atmosphere.

KIRBY: Yes.

HARLOW: We got -- I got to ask you about Twitter and then I'll let you go, sir.

KIRBY: OK.

HARLOW: You guys stopped advertising -- I know you want to talk about Twitter, but I've got to ask you, you guys stopped advertising on Twitter after Elon Musk took over. Do you see United advertising on Twitter again with Elon Musk at the helm?

KIRBY: I don't know is the short answer. I didn't even know that we advertised on Twitter before. You know, it's a really small part of our business. You know, I mean, honestly, I think this is a -- people are making a mountain out of a mole hill. You know, it's a really small piece of our business and I'm sure our team is talking to them, but I honestly don't know the details.

HARLOW: All right, fair enough. We appreciate your time. Thanks. Scott Kirby, United Airlines CEO.

KIRBY: Thank you.

LEMON: That was really good, Poppy.

HARLOW: Well, he echoes what you're saying like every day on the economy, right, that -

LEMON: Yes, that we are talking ourselves into an economy when all -- there are many indicators that show that we're not there yet. Into a recession, I should say.

HARLOW: I hope he's - I hope - I hope that's true.

LEMON: Me too.

COLLINS: I also love to start the morning talking about carbon offsets.

HARLOW: I know it was dorky, but I think it's really important and so I had to ask about it.

COLLINS: It's not dorky, it's important.

HARLOW: Yes, just the future of the planet.

COLLINS: Right, you know.

HARLOW: All right, Brittney Griner finally back home after spending ten months detained in Russia. Why a fellow athlete is apologizing for criticizing that prisoner swap.

LEMON: You know what I like (INAUDIBLE) really tight questions that you were -

COLLINS: Yes.

LEMON: It's like -

HARLOW: I'm working on that.

LEMON: You've got - no - but, no, no, no.

HARLOW: That's my biggest Achilles heal.

LEMON: No, no, no.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: With respect to the question of whether we've had engagement with the Russian Federation on the Whelan case, we will have an engagement with them this week. I won't say more about it because we are trying to keep that in sensitive channels. But that's the timetable. And we have had regular engagement, of course, along the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So that was the National Secured Adviser Jake Sullivan vowing to keep pushing for Paul Whelan to be released from Russia as WNBA star Brittney Griner works to regain some sense of normalcy after spending ten months detained in Russia.

Griner spent her first weekend back in the U.S. visiting with family, enjoy some Texas barbecue and, you know what, getting a haircut, right, that's important stuff to get back to normalcy here. Whelan was not a part of the prisoner swap for convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout that brought Griner home, fuel some criticism from lawmakers and a handful of people in the sports world.

So, let's discuss now. Bomani Jones is here.

Bomani, I thought you were coming into the studio, but we're glad to have you this way, the screen.

So, Bomani is, by the way, also the host of "Game Theory with Bomani Jones," which season two premieres on HBO Max. It's set for January 20th.

So, again, thank you for joining us.

Bomani, why all this consternation about - what was -- you know, the deal was this and we got -- he was a bad dude and she wasn't that bad and the exchange wasn't even. What do you make of all that?

BOMANI JONES, HOST, HBO/HBO MAX "GAME THEORY WITH BOMANI JONES": Oh, the consternation is just because people want to be mad. Like, she got nine years for empty vape cartridges. There is no objective measure by which that is not absolutely absurd. So, getting her out of jail was something that made perfect sense for the government to do. Now, how they prioritized who they decide to go get out of jail, I don't have the greatest answer for that necessarily. But this was somebody that should not have been in jail as she was. She was also visible enough that it seems clear that Russia could use a certain amount of leverage in order to try to get her back. But the idea that anybody was mad about the idea that the government was going to try to get her back is really just a testament to the fact that we really just look for a lot of reasons to be mad.

COLLINS: I think that's very true.

LEMON: Yes. Why?

COLLINS: People do look for reasons to be mad. But I think the other side of that is that, just in a larger context, but I think the other side of that is the real concern that you've heard from people about the swap because Viktor Bout is the biggest -- arguably the biggest bargaining chip the United States had to offer.

HARLOW: Yes.

COLLINS: And so I think when you - when you hear those concerns from Republicans who say, well, the concern there is that obviously what she was convict on was such a minor offense, it was so laughable, and the idea that she was traded for someone who was this convicted arms dealer conspiring to kill Americans, and that Paul Whelan is still in Russia, I think that is where the concern from Republicans, from critics of this swap comes in.

And it's not just from Republicans, it comes from Democrats too.

JONES: Yes, I get that, but I also feel like that's the real easy thing for you to say when you're not the one in a Russian penal colony, right?

COLLINS: Yes.

JONES: Like, for example, we talk about Brittney Griner coming back and getting her haircut. It's because their hair was freezing off if a Russian penal colony.

LEMON: Right. She was (INAUDIBLE).

JONES: Like, there wasn't going to - there wasn't going to be like any nice, smooth solution in this one. There wasn't going to be there - anything I thought that really made either side happy. But I also think something that's happened here is kind of the sportsification (ph) of all news conference where all of a sudden we're breaking down this trade, like Anthony Davis just went to the Lakers and you try to figure out who got the best end of the deal. Sometimes deals are not zero sums. Sometimes it's a matter of, you get what you can get when you can get it and you just take whatever surplus there happens to be.

And that seemed to be the case on this one.

HARLOW: You have said something that I - I want to dig into. That WNBA players are just better at using their voice for social justice causes than anybody else.

Listen to what we heard yesterday from a WNBA player, Elizabeth Williams, talking about standing up for Brittney and so much more. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH WILLIAMS, WNBA PLAYER, WASHINGTON MYSTICS: Any opportunity for us to speak up and speak out about social injustice is important. I think as female athletes we're kind of inherently political and constantly, you know, fighting, whether it's for pay equity, or just opportunities for women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:55:07]

HARLOW: Kind of like, as Don reminded us, what Trevor Noah said last week in his signoff, if you want to know about America, as black women.

JONES: Well, I think it's also very particular in this case to the way that athletes are fostered and developed in this country. And the truth is, nobody's really going to get rich off of finding the next WNBA superstar. Everybody thinks they're getting rich off of finding the next NBA superstar. So these are women that actually have to think more about themselves broadly as they are coming up and the exploitation they deal with is just completely different than what goes on, on the male side.

So, I know Renee Montgomery has made this point, most of those women have their college degrees, for example. They've got to treat college a little bit differently while they're in there because there's a good chance they're actually going to have to go get jobs. So when these things come up, any dumb jock stereotype that you have about athletes, it doesn't apply to these women because, honestly, they can't afford for it to apply.

LEMON: Listen, her wrongful detainment really sparked all these questions. And I know that you've been vocal about this, about the disparity in pay for -- between -- the disparity in pay between men and women's professional basketball.

Do you expect this is going to lead to any real change, Bomani?

JONES: No, not unless the WNBA starts generating a significant amount of revenue that it does not right now. Like, I think that we have to ask ourselves I think a larger question when we get into the pay equity thing because this isn't a matter of everybody doing the same job, bringing in the same money, and then there's a pay disparity. What has happened is that we live in a society that conflates the respect that you get with the amount of money that you make. And so if you look at women's sports and you want women to be treated as athletes with the same respect men do, the way this society works, then by that token you expect women to make a whole lot more money playing basketball. And we've got to ask the question as to whether or not being a star athlete necessarily entitles you to make a lot of money. Like, I've seen people make the argument that Brittney Griner had to go to Russia because she wasn't making a living wage. No, she's making about a quarter million dollars playing in the WNBA. That qualifies as being a living wage. If she made $2 million playing in the WNBA, I bet she'd still get on a plane to go get $2 million playing in Russia if it was then available.

So, yes, you would like to see these women make more money because you're not a hater. You'd just like to see them make more money. But where that money is going to come from is something that nobody can answer.

Now, I'm of the belief that the NBA should subsidize the WNBA to a significant level because I think it's just better for everybody and it's a better image for the league when you do that. Like, I've talked about this, when you're at the airport, if you've ever been on a flight and you watch a WNBA team get on it after playing a game the night before knowing they got a game the next night, those kinds of things the league can absolutely do something about. But if people think that suddenly the WNBA is going to pay $10 million a year to its best players, something economically would have to change for that to happen.

HARLOW: Well, there's a whole lot to that argument that we don't have time to get into here, but we appreciate the perspective. Always good to have you.

LEMON: Thanks, Bomani.

JONES: Yes, I appreciate it.

LEMON: Thank you. We'll see you soon. Appreciate it.

So, "Game Theory," we should say, with Bomani Jones will kick off a second season on HBO Max on January 20th.

COLLINS: He's got a lot to say. We love having him on here too.

LEMON: Yes, we do.

HARLOW: Every week is like -

COLLINS: A little preview of what that season looks like.

HARLOW: Yes. It's great to have him.

COLLINS: All right, and CNN "NEWSROOM" starts right after this break.

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