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How Much Would The "12 Days of Christmas" Cost; Lawmakers Warn Sale of U.S. Steel a National Security Risk. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired December 22, 2023 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[08:30:03]
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: So the "Times" asked economists in Chicago's Federal Reserve how much would the McCallisters have to be earning to actually live in a home like that? And that's where we get the answer. Their answer, working under the assumption the family spent no more than the recommended 30% of their income on housing, they'd have to bring in roughly $300,000 in 1990 or close to $700,000 in 2022.
And in today's market, it would actually have to be making more than that to be able to afford that home. But obviously there's a critical question here. Where did the money actually come from? Time to dig in, right?
Simple answer, we don't actually know. The movie never actually explains, but fans have theories. One clue they often point to, there are multiple mannequins scattered throughout the house. That seems rare, you would think, which led some to believe that Kevin's mom could have been a fashion designer. That's a career they went with in the official novelization of the movie. So we think we could put a check mark by that. The "Times" spoke to the novel's author who says he also made Kevin's dad a businessman because it was, quote, "a safe bet."
What about the uncles? One of whom, Uncle Frank, travels with the family to Paris. Not exactly a beacon of generosity.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, pizza's here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. That's $120, $250.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brother's house. He'll take care of you.
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MATTINGLY: Then of course there's Uncle Rob. He pays for the whole family, 15 of them to fly to Paris to spend the holiday with his family, including four first class tickets for his brothers and their wives, opening up his apartment. Of course, it has Eiffel Tower views to host them all. This, while maintaining as we learn in the sequel, the Upper West Side Brownstone that Kevin ends up visiting in "Home Alone 2." One other theory that has made the rounds online, organized crime.
Now, let's be clear here. This is speculation. We don't know this specifically, but they fans say McCallister's home might have been targeted specifically as a mob vendetta. They point to Kevin's violence as evidence, get a childhood exposed to criminal activity.
It's important to know, "Times" was not able to rule out this theory and either have my sources. We're going to continue to press for those answers. Public service journalism.
In the meantime, one player directly involved in this process did go on the record with a very important point. Quote, "to me with respect to the fans who argue about the parents income or house cost should instead simply enjoy the movie. That was from Eva Colley, the set director for the movie. Pretty good advice, let's say.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Oh my god.
MATTINGLY: Poppy.
HARLOW: That is everything for me this Christmas.
MATTINGLY: It's my passion project.
HARLOW: What's better, Home Alone 1, 2? There's a 4 apparently. I haven't gotten that far.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, we watched Home Alone 2 last night with my kids.
HARLOW: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: They like the New York connection now that they've been in New York sometimes. But Home Alone 1 is a classic, man.
HARLOW: Yes. Well, Luca, my five-year-old builds booby traps all over our house that I may or may not trip on all the time. So thanks to this movie.
MATTINGLY: That's just a great kid.
HARLOW: Yeah, great kid. Thanks, Phil.
The song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," a holiday staple, of course.
(MUSIC)
HARLOW: Of course the partridge in a pear tree. Have you ever stopped to think what all those gifts would look like under your tree? Five golden rings, seven swans a swimming, ten lords a leaping. It all has to be pretty expensive. Andy Bernard from The Office learned that the hard way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (MUSIC)
ERIN: But whoever is giving me the Twelve Days of Christmas? As my Secret Santa? Please stop. I can't take it anymore.
KELLY: What psycho would send that as a gift?
ANDY: I begged Dwight and Jim to give me Erin for Secret Santa. And I decided to give Erin the Twelve days of Christmas. Is it my fault that the first eight days is basically thirty birds?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: It's a good producing there. Richard Quest has the numbers on how much this would all cost. Richard, this may be my favorite conversation with you of the year, so take it away.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Three calling birds, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. How much would all this lot cost? Well, you've got to work it out. Five gold rings, they basically haven't changed in price. The three big ones, turtle doves, which are up 25% because of the rarity of turtle doves.
Number two, partridge in a pear tree. That's up 14%. Why? The partridge has to live in a pear tree. The rent on the pear tree up 14%. And the third most expensive, the geese laying. Six geese a- laying. Five gold rings. Those six geese a-laying up 8% because they're rare. You cannot get your hands on geese at the moment.
Put it all together. If you buy the 12 Days of Christmas, six geese -- come all together, five gold rings. Put it all together, $46,730, up 2.7%. PNC Bank have been doing this for 40 plus years.
[08:35:12]
HARLOW: Richard, I know you want us to sing the five golden rings. Golden rings, Phil.
MATTINGLY: I mean, I think --
HARLOW: Do not leave me hanging here.
MATTINGLY: I'm so intimidated by Richard's talent. And I'm also very sure Richard could get a hand at a hold of those geese if he wanted to. Like that's his --
HARLOW: Yeah, go ahead, Richard.
QUEST: The one question.
MATTINGLY: Yeah.
QUEST: Remember, you have to buy the items again and again. Five gold rings. You have to buy them again and again and again. So the total cost of Christmas, 346 gifts, 201,972. That's a gain of two and a half percent. Come on, stand by. You can do this. Eight maids a-milking. Together.
MATTINGLY: There we go. There it is. OK.
HARLOW: He won't do it. He won't do it.
MATTINGLY: Richard Quest, you are my favorite. Thank you, my friends.
QUEST: Thank you. Happy Christmas.
HARLOW: Happy Christmas, as they say over the pond. You may have some geese in your office for Christmas.
MATTINGLY: Why? Because I didn't sing it?
HARLOW: Be careful when you open the door.
MATTINGLY: OK. Noted.
It's rare to have -- it's rare to have to have President Biden and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on the same page on an issue. But they are on this one, a $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company. How do steel workers feel about it? We're going to speak to the President. Next.
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[08:40:29]
MATTINGLY: The White House breaking a days-long silence on the controversial takeover of U.S. steel. Once an icon of industrial America, the company could soon be owned by a Japanese-owned firm. The White House releasing a statement, the NEC Director Lael Brainard last night saying the President believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign entity, even one from a close ally, appears to deserve some serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability.
Now, U.S. Steel was founded by the likes of Andrew Carnegie and JP Morgan in 1901. It was once the largest corporation in the world. But on Monday, Pittsburgh-based company agreed to be acquired by a Japanese steel giant for $14.1 billion, the purchase triggering bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill with some lawmakers saying the deal should be blocked because of national security risks.
Joining us now to discuss David McCall, he's the International President of the United Steel Workers Union, which represents thousands of workers at U.S. Steel. We appreciate your time. Sir, to start with, the White House statement from Lael Brainard is the President's top economic adviser saying that it had serious concerns. What was your response to that?
DAVID MCCALL, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, UNITED STEELWORKERS: Well, obviously, we agree with that as well. I mean, U.S. Steel and Nippon have both violated our collective bargaining agreement by not notifying us of this deal to begin with. And there's lots of concern for us for our sustainability of our current workforce, their employment security, and obviously, the pensions and retiree health care of our retirees. Besides the White House's scrutiny on national security and domestic supply chain issues, we're certainly concerned about the whole deal.
MATTINGLY: There the statement from, I think, both U.S. Steel and I think Nippon officials have also said that they would comply with any existing contracts, any existing union contracts. Do you not believe that? Do you feel like there's something that that's telling you otherwise?
MCCALL: They haven't spoken to us about what the deal is or what Nippon's commitment will be to us going forward. And there's real violations in terms of our right to bid language, our successorship language, and what their commitment is going to be on capital investment going on into the future.
One of the statements made by the Nippon representatives during their call was that they were going to -- they were going to continue to plan a U.S. Steel, which has been to shut down facilities and transfer work to their non-union operation. So that's obviously a big concern for us as well.
MATTINGLY: Obviously, the President making clear the security concerns, the security review, a certainty potentially already underway to some degree. What more would you like to see the White House do and lawmakers do?
MCCALL: Well, obviously they need to go through the process of the scrutiny of what the deal is. But, you know, currently we have dozens of cases against Japan on anti-dumping issues where they have violated our trade laws. We are in favor of trade. We think trade's a good thing. But when it's illegal trade where they've subsidized their products or where they're selling them below market price is real concerning and breaks the law.
And they're already doing that. And we're worried about, does that mean that facilities in the U.S. in the future will be shut down and then they'll continue to import products into this country. And again, there's exposed automotive issues with that, domestic supply chain issues, and products which go into food products and some military grade issues that we make at U.S. Steel that potentially could be shut down with different ownership.
MATTINGLY: The business aspects, the labor aspects, these are all very important here, but we have to be candid. This is happening in a political environment heading into an election year where states like Pennsylvania and Michigan are extraordinarily critical. How much does that play a role in what happens next here? How much will you leverage that to some degree to make the points you're making right now on policy?
MCCALL: It's not about issues around politics here. This is obviously a bipartisan scrutiny that's being announced. The issue for us is really the long-term security, viability, and sustainability of our steelmaking operations here in the U.S. owned by an American company, controlled by an American company.
MATTINGLY: And have you -- do you plan to have a conversation with the company or have you had conversations with the company? I know you hadn't heard in advance. I think you got a 6 a.m. voicemail.
MCCALL: They actually called me at 6 a.m. on Monday morning to tell us what they were going to do. But they have -- we have reached out to them and said we were available tonight. We're trying to schedule.
[08:45:05]
MATTINGLY: All right. Well, this will certainly be something we'll be keeping an eye on. David McCall, we appreciate your time, sir. Thank you.
MCCALL: Thank you.
HARLOW: Well, Donald Trump accused again of pressuring election officials to overturn the 2020 election, this time in Michigan. And the Detroit News says it has listened to a tape of that phone call.
MATTINGLY: Well, things are getting even better for Dodgers fans. The team reportedly agreeing to sign Japanese pitching sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I've only practiced that name 150 times. The deal reported by ESPN 12 years, $325 million, and it's the largest for pitcher in league history. It beats Gerrit Cole's contract with the Yankees by $1 million. That would mean the Dodgers have now spent more than a billion dollars in free agency this season between the Yamamoto deal and Shohei Ohtani. I wish the Yankees would have done the same. We'll be back.
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[08:50:07]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, our teacher taught us about a place called Africa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said, our mama's come from Queens over there. That means that we, royalty.
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HARLOW: "The Color Purple" is returning to the big screen, but this time as a musical reboot of the 1985 classic. The film is based on Alice Walker's 1982 novel and follows the lives of struggle -- and struggles of black women in the South in the early 1900s. It's produced by Oprah Winfrey, who starred in the original Steven Spielberg directed film.
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OPRAH WINFREY: There's nothing that's been more important or vital to me, culturally, artistically, than "The Color Purple." It is a solid base of spiritual and emotional power for me.
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HARLOW: The "Reboot" is a production of Warner Brothers Pictures, which, like CNN, is part of Warner Brothers' Discovery, and it opens on Christmas Day. We are so happy to be joined this morning to talk about the legacy of "The Color Purple" and returning to the big screen and why it all resonates with writer, comedian, and actress Amber Ruffin. Welcome. It's great to have you.
AMBER RUFFIN, WRITER, COMEDIAN & ACTRESS: It's great to be here.
HARLOW: The way that you talk about "The Color Purple" is so important, and you say this is a love letter to black women. What does it mean to have it back on the big screen?
RUFFIN: Yeah, I absolutely adore "The Color Purple." And I remember watching it when I was young and realizing that, you know, entertainment had a huge space that black women could fill. And we're still discovering the many ways that black women can contribute. And it's amazing, like this late in the game, what entertainment is, is evolving at the hands of black women.
But this color, "The Color Purple" is really special because it's a book that became a movie that became a musical that is becoming a movie musical. And I think that's really interesting. And that shows how badly we adore this story. We adore it.
MATTINGLY: And there's kind of a full circle element of Oprah who was starred in the first, or in the movie, and is now the executive producer of this. What does that mean when you kind of think through the through line that you were just laying out?
RUFFIN: I know it -- I was watching all of her interviews and I'm like, it must feel really good to be able to give back to the show that gave her so much, you know? Because that really let us know that she was a true actress, actress, you know? And now she gets to extend that to the rest of these actors and it's pretty cool.
HARLOW: Obviously, main theme of the movie is inequality, and there is this now viral clip going around about star, superstar, cast member, Taraji P. Henson, telling Gayle King that she considered quitting acting at one point because of all of the inequity. And it just, to me, that's another really important through line and something we can't miss in talking about, you know, what she has gone through and where she is now.
RUFFIN: Isn't it nuts how what she was talking about mirrors?
HARLOW: Yes.
RUFFIN: The Color Purple itself?
HARLOW: Yes.
RUFFIN: Like The Color Purple is, you know, black women figuring out their worth and their value. And she is literally doing that. And forging her way in Hollywood, which is crazy. I'm saying forging, but she's had a career for a billion years. But she's forging her way through Hollywood. And she's dragging people with her. Like all of the people that were in her amen corner, like Gabrielle Union and Robin Thede, those are the people I text when I get a new job. I text Robin Thede and I go, OK, they're offering me this. What's this? And you best believe that girl has a spreadsheet. And it has, you know, everything that everyone has made. And you know the ranges and stuff.
And she has to. Who else, they will low ball her like crazy. And you know, and Taraji P. Henson is one of those people where, if you have a problem of any kind, you go to them. And they've already been through it. And they already have a solution. And they have a guy for that. You know?
HARLOW: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: Robin Thede actually was the one who shared the viral tweet saying this is an Oscar nominated actress. Like that's completely bonkers.
RUFFIN: Yeah, it's nuts. I click on, the reason I saw that interview she gave is because I click on her when I see her. I can't help it. Not because I read the headline or anything. I was just, oh, I want to see what she has to say. Because it's always something great like this. It always is, yeah.
HARLOW: Yeah, one of my favorite films and stories is Hidden Figures. And, you know, it's different than this, but also, you'll never forget her standing up in that film and standing up for equality. And the fight that continues, that's a point.
[08:55:14]
RUFFIN: Yeah.
HARLOW: The fight that very much continues.
RUFFIN: Yeah, I just think -- it's not -- she's not saying anything new, right? She's not saying anything we don't know but to watch her say it after you've loved her in 500 different roles is crazy. But yeah it's still happening and she still has to like -- I see why she got so emotional because it's like, it's embarrassing and it's infuriating but she shouldn't feel either of those things.
HARLOW: It should actually be embarrassing for anyone that dares.
RUFFIN: Say that. That's exactly right.
MATTINGLY: It's not new, but you also say it's still happening. And that's why it's important, and that's why it resonated. Amber Ruffin, thank you so much for coming in. We appreciate it.
RUFFIN: Yay, I'll see you guys on Christmas at the movie theater.
MATTINGLY: Yes. HARLOW: Hey, yes. That's exactly right. Thank you.
MATTINGLY: But before we go, we do want to say goodbye and wish our best. I didn't want this to happen, but she's determined to do it. Our studio operator, Emily Summers, she's setting off to other opportunities on the West Coast.
HARLOW: She is our sun and she's going to a very sunny place. It has been a joy, joy, joy to have her with us. She will be greatly missed.
MATTINGLY: And CNN News Central starts after this break. Have a great weekend.
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