Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Super Bowl Ads: Which Ones Scored, Which Ones Fumbled?; Hip-Hop Legends Headline Halftime Show; Pelosi Supports Stock Trading Ban For Lawmakers. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 14, 2022 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:00]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Americans feel lousy about the economy but it turns out most of the country has actually come out ahead financially during the pandemic. That's right -- it's the COVID economy contradiction.
Inflation gets all the headlines -- all the blame, at 7.5 percent annual inflation. It's the highest in nearly 40 years. But as bad as that sounds, it is directly related to good news. Fastest economic growth in four decades and a jobless rate -- it's just four percent.
Since the start of the pandemic, Americans' disposable income has increased more than five percent after inflation.
Let's bring in CNN White House correspondent John Harwood.
John, this terrific analysis that you published -- you write this. Even those who fault President Biden's policies for exacerbating inflation -- they acknowledge that right now, the pandemic economy continues to offer large underappreciated rewards. What are those rewards?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the rewards are a couple.
First of all, rising wages across the board over two years and, particularly, if you look at the bottom. This hot labor market means that so many people who have not had any bargaining power in the American economy for decades all of the sudden have some. Now, a byproduct of that is inflation, along with other aspects of the pandemic -- supply chain problems -- that have complicated the economic picture.
But between the fiscal relief that both administrations, Trump and Biden -- members of both parties in Congress voted for -- those checks that were sent out and the increases that people have gotten in wages -- people are better off, but nobody feels better off.
ROMANS: Yes.
HARWOOD: And that's one of the tragedies of the pandemic is that people are in such a bad mood. They're so fed up. They think everything -- or they -- it feels like everything is bad. But in terms of their financial circumstances, right now it's better.
ROMANS: I know -- two years of mass death, frankly, and a political -- you know --
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Schools closed.
ROMANS: Schools closed. But stocks, savings, home equity -- you know, it's just -- so many of these measures show you should be feeling good about things, but they just don't.
JARRETT: Yes.
John, some new CNN polling shows only 45 percent of Democrats -- not Republicans, Democrats want Biden as their nominee in 2024. I've got to imagine if you go behind the numbers on that it's got to be COVID and the economy to blame.
HARWOOD: That's right, and it's a little bit theoretical in terms of looking down the road two years. And if you're a Democrat and you're looking at the polls right now, they're terrible. Your party is headed for a defeat in the midterm elections. You can't be all that bullish about that picture. And so, it's natural to say well, maybe we need somebody else.
We will see whether 78-year-old Joe Biden, who is the oldest president that we've ever had -- if he is in health and the frame of mind that he wants to run for another term. But right now, we talk about the COVID pandemic putting Americans in a bad mood. Democrats are in a bad mood --
JARRETT: Yes.
HARWOOD: -- because things have been politically very, very difficult for them.
JARRETT: Yes. Well, you know what? There's still a lot of time left.
ROMANS: True.
JARRETT: We're focused on 2024 but we've still got midterms to go, so there is a lot to happen.
John, thank you as always. Appreciate you getting up on a Monday.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
HARWOOD: You bet. JARRETT: All right, now to this. How much does 30 seconds cost? Well, $7 million if you advertised during the Super Bowl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Uber Eats ad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:35:14]
JARRETT: Let's talk about which ads delivered and which did not.
Lisa Lacy is a commerce editor at Adweek. So nice to have you this morning, Lisa.
You say that Uber Eats ad is one of the best. It certainly has a lot of star power.
ROMANS: Yes, it does.
LISA LACY, COMMERCE EDITOR, ADWEEK (via Webex by Cisco): It does, for sure. I thought that it was -- it was a great cast. And I -- but I also thing why this ad was so effective was because it was -- it was a very simple message but the -- you know, the antics that we saw there, like Cousin Greg drinking the --
JARRETT: Yes.
LACY: -- dish soap. There was another guy who was eating cat litter. I feel like that really got the message across that Uber Eats does more than just deliver food. So that was why that was one of my favorites.
ROMANS: Yes, it --
JARRETT: And they perfectly encapsulated --
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- their personas, right?
ROMANS: It ticked -- and it ticked all the boxes there.
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: You also liked this one from Rocket Mortgage. Watch a little bit of that one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Rocket Mortgage ad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Oh, wow. Mortgage rates in the red-hot real estate boom. That one nailed it.
LACY: Yes, for sure. I mean, I think that it's really -- Anna Kendrick is always so charming.
ROMANS: Yes.
LACY: She did that Frito-Lay holiday ad a couple of years ago where she sort of sang and danced to. It's hard to miss Anna Kendrick. But with Barbie -- that is a really powerful duo. And again, I think that is an ad that really clearly got the message across.
And then with the -- with the He-Man Skeletor reference at the end. For consumers of my age, anyway, that was -- that certainly pulled at the heartstrings.
JARRETT: OK, but they weren't all, apparently, great. Let's take a one -- take a look at one that you say missed the mark.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Salesforce ad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: All right, got to love Matthew McConaughey anytime, but that one not so much for you?
LACY: Yes. I mean, I think that the problem is that it just -- I mean, it's -- and I tweeted this last night. It's not that I'm not on hashtag team Earth, but I think it was just sort of an odd message from a customer relationship management platform. It was -- it was just sort of I think that they were trying to appeal to people who are green and ecologically-minded, but like there really wasn't kind of a tieback to the company itself.
JARRETT: Yes.
LACY: And it just sort of -- it was just kind of a head-scratcher.
ROMANS: Let's listen to -- another one you say missed -- this Budweiser ad -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Budweiser ad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A puppy and Clydesdales. What went wrong here?
LACY: Well, I think what's really interesting, if you remember back in 2014-2015, Budweiser had a pair of ads with the puppy and the Clydesdale, and America loved those ads. Those were solid gold in terms of advertising.
And what I think is really interesting now and maybe because the horse got hurt, but I do think that a lot has happened since 2015. You know, we had the Trump presidency, we've had the global pandemic. And so, I do wonder whether just kind of that broad appeal to smalltown America traditional values -- I feel like that's something that's harder to do now when viewers are -- when viewers are divided.
ROMANS: Interesting.
JARRETT: In a different place.
All right, Lisa, finally, this one, you say, is one of the most memorable. Watch this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Google Pixel ad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Talk about meeting the moment.
LACY: Yes. I think -- I think why -- or one of the reasons this stuck out so much was because most advertisers I think just wanted to make viewers laugh last night.
JARRETT: Yes.
LACY: And this is an ad that kind of went in a different direction and went more for poignancy and I really do think it hit the mark. Again, it sort of ties back to the company and the product itself and this message that here's this camera on a phone that is capable of taking pictures of people with a -- with a wider range of skin colors.
[05:40:00]
And so, I -- I mean, they did have Lizzo so there is -- so there was that sort of --
JARRETT: Right.
LACY: -- tieback to the celebrity thing. But, no -- I think that stood out kind of by standing apart.
JARRETT: Yes, and really a human one. I liked that one a lot.
ROMANS: All right, Lisa Lacy of Adweek, nice to see you. Thank you so much --
JARRETT: Thanks, Lisa.
ROMANS: -- for staying up late with us.
LACY: Thank you.
ROMANS: All right. Hip-hop took center stage for the first time ever at a Super Bowl and it did not disappoint.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Clip from Super Bowl halftime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre showing a little California love. A parade of legendary artists took part in an awesome halftime show.
CNN's Chloe Melas joins us now.
Chloe, early '90s hip-hop nostalgia didn't end there.
CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Oh, my gosh. It was like 15 minutes of pure joy. And I was at a mini-Super Bowl party with some of my neighbors and everybody was like oh my gosh, I wish it had gone on for another --
JARRETT: Yes.
MELAS: -- 20 minutes. It went by so fast.
One of the moments that everybody's talking about is the fact that 50 Cent showed up -- this surprise appearance. His 2003 hit "In da Club" which actually Dr. Dre produced.
JARRETT: Oh.
MELAS: So this was a moment that nobody was expecting. He suspended upside down for part of it.
JARRETT: Yes, very meme-worthy.
MELAS: Yes. But everybody else came in there. Mary J. Blige with her hits. Kendrick Lamar with "Alright."
This was a major moment that they all came, and they crushed it. It was absolutely incredible and I have seen nothing but positivity --
ROMANS: Me, too.
MELAS: -- on social media.
JARRETT: Yes, yes. No -- the reaction seems overwhelmingly positive.
Although there is this one moment that's getting a lot of attention -- I think some mixed reviews -- from Eminem. He took a knee during the show. There was some report about whether you had been allowed to; whether there were discussions with the NFL about doing that ahead of time.
What do we know about that?
MELAS: Right. So, this was a moment that happened right at the end of the entire halftime show and as you're watching it you're wondering is he kneeling-kneeling or is he just kneeling. Well, yes, he has been very outspoken about his support for Colin Kaepernick and he has even rapped about Colin Kaepernick before.
And so, there is a statement now from the NFL that says we watched all the rehearsals. We saw everything. We were fine with this. And coaches and players could have kneeled as well and there would have been no repercussions.
Well, I mean, that is a far different tone than what they -- you know, we went through several years ago with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee and then now -- you know, he still doesn't have a team to play for.
So, I haven't seen any criticism though about Eminem doing something like that. You know, again, the people that I was with too -- I mean, it was subtle. No one mentioned it and it was something that I think several hours later people were finally like oh, OK, so that happened. That was a moment but unsurprising that it was Eminem.
But obviously, the NFL standing by the halftime show, saying that it was great and that they support Eminem for doing this and that they saw him do this during rehearsals. So, they're claiming that it's no surprise to them.
But look -- I mean, this comes at a moment for racial reckoning within the NFL. We've talked about this before -- Colin Kaepernick, right? He's doing a new docuseries --
JARRETT: Yes.
MELAS: -- with ESPN and Samuel -- anyway, I'm forgetting.
And then, we also have the Miami Dolphins lawsuit with Brian Flores.
JARRETT: Yes, Flores.
MELAS: So there's a lot going on right now. Spike Lee -- sorry. And so, Spike Lee is directing the Colin Kaepernick docuseries. It's early. I haven't had coffee, you guys.
And so, this is a moment and I think that everyone met this moment. And also, a major milestone because this is --
ROMANS: Yes.
MELAS: -- the first time that hip-hop has taken center stage. They have never been a headliner --
JARRETT: Yes.
MELAS: -- ever.
ROMANS: It's cool
MELAS: And I think that we will see it again.
JARRETT: It's cool, yes.
Beyonce was one thing. MELAS: Yes.
JARRETT: I think that everyone appreciated that performance. But having all of them up there --
MELAS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- at the same time -- sort of, that show of force --
MELAS: I mean, 30 years of rap music --
JARRETT: Yes.
MELAS: -- encapsulated in 14 minutes.
JARRETT: Yes.
MELAS: I mean, it's unbelievable.
JARRETT: Yes.
MELAS: It was just a wonderful moment to see.
ROMANS: A full house party (ph).
MELAS: And I think it was one of the best halftime shows of all time.
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: Nineties house party.
All right, Chloe Melas, nice to see you. Thank you.
JARRETT: Thanks, Chloe -- appreciate it.
MELAS: Thank you.
ROMANS: All right.
JARRETT: Just ahead for you, Congress finally getting serious about banning stock trading by lawmakers, or are they?
ROMANS: And how a flight attendant used a coffee pot to tame an unruly passenger.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:48:33]
ROMANS: All right, it's Monday. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.
Fear of war in Europe rocking through global stock markets. You can see Asia closed down sharply. Europe has opened down, although off the lows, thank goodness. It had been worse an hour ago. On Wall Street, stock index futures are down this morning. You know, the Russia factor slammed stocks Friday and drove up oil prices. Wall Street dropped sharply after the White House told Americans to leave Ukraine immediately.
And oil jumped up to an eight-year high. Of course, Russia is the world's second-largest producer of both oil and natural gas. High oil prices -- also, that can drive up prices at the pump here, currently at a seven-year high for gas prices. And it can contribute to inflation.
More inflation news coming this week. January's Producer Price Index -- those are factory-level prices. That comes out tomorrow. In December, that index rose at the fastest annual pace ever.
A push to ban lawmakers from buying and selling stocks while in office is gaining bipartisan support, including from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who shifted her position from late last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): This is a free market and people -- we are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that.
We have to tighten the fines on those who violate the STOCK act. It's simply not sufficient to deter behavior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: We have a STOCK Act. It was something that was after the last financial crisis but very meager fines.
[05:50:00]
Last month, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley both introduced similar bills to make stock trading illegal for lawmakers. The scope of the ban, whether to include lawmakers' spouses and their aides. That's still up in the air.
I want to discuss this with Spencer Jakab. He's the editor of the "Heard on the Street" column at "The Wall Street Journal," and author of the great book, "The Revolution That Wasn't: GameStop, Reddit, and the Fleecing of Small Investors." Spencer, so glad to have you here.
I want to get to the stock trading thing in a minute, but I want to look at the markets this morning. Some trouble around the world in the stock markets. Oil prices moving up.
When you have the words fear of an invasion in Europe that's never a good thing for investors. How serious should we take that?
SPENCER JAKAB, EDITOR, HEARD ON THE STREET, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, AUTHOR, "THE REVOLUTION THAT WASN'T: GAMESTOP, REDDIT, AND THE FLEECING OF SMALL INVESTORS" (via Webex by Cisco): No. War in Europe is never a good headline. You would think it would be worth more than 270 points off of Dow futures. Of course, we had a big selloff on Friday afternoon as well. It's difficult to interpret. I think it looks extremely likely now --
I think markets have probably mostly factored in part of Ukraine being locked off. The repercussions of that and what that means for U.S. prestige and the prestige of the West in terms of really not being able to stand in the way of Putin, rather than the economic importance of Ukraine.
And look at energy, oil prices are up again. I think part of that, of course, is the fear that some of the sanctions that ensue might affect Russia's oil production and oil exports. That's probably pretty unlikely. With oil near $100 a barrel, any sanctions probably would avoid touching that part of its economy.
Natural gas is a different picture though because they've used gas sort of as a weapon -- as a cudgel against Western Europe. And the natural gas prices that we see surging today are U.S. prices and that's because the U.S. has become such a large exporter of gas -- liquified cargoes to Europe to top off their meager supplies this winter.
JARRETT: So let's talk about this push that Christine mentioned to ban or at least stiffen the rules for lawmakers trading on insider information -- trading stocks.
What has the argument been for not having stiffer rules in this area?
JAKAB: You tell me. I mean, there were extensive criticisms in the early 2000s of how well Congresspeople -- people in Congress seemed to do trading stocks.
JARRETT: Yes.
JAKAB: There was one study that showed that their annualized returns were something on the order of 34 percent, which would make people in Congress the best fund managers out there. Now, if they -- if they weren't trading on insider information then they should have gone straight to Wall Street and managed a hedge fund, right? Because those sorts of returns are -- those are -- that's better than Warren Buffett. So, clearly, there is something amiss there.
The STOCK Act, which you mentioned in your intro, was passed in 2012 and the fines really are meager. And Nancy Pelosi also said in that clip that you played that the fines should be more substantial. Yes, they should be. They're $200 for filing late -- for basically telling people you did things late.
In my opinion, there should be a ban -- and not only a ban on members of Congress individually but also members of their family. You'll remember that Rand Paul -- he got briefings about the coronavirus very early and then his wife went out and bought a bunch of stock in Gilead Sciences. You had other people who are no longer in Congress who went out and did the same. Dumped hotel stocks and dumped -- you know, in some cases, more than $1 million of stock they owned.
Jon Ossoff, who is the senator who introduced probably the toughest bill, along with Mark Kelly, would ban members of Congresspeople's families, including their minor children, for owning stock at all.
I think that's the way to go because you have to include people's spouses. If you're making -- you know, if you're economically a member of the same household how do you not include them?
ROMANS: Yes, and some are saying why not just -- mutual funds, you know? Have wide --
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: -- mutual funds like --
JAKAB: Right.
ROMANS: -- regular people do.
All right, Spencer Jakab --
JAKAB: Christine, I'm -- as an editor of columns about all kinds of things in business, we have pretty strict rules at "The Wall Street Journal" about what we can and can't own. And I just take a blanket approach to I'm not going to own any individual --
ROMANS: Sure.
JAKAB: -- stocks. I'm just going to own mutual funds. They're so cheap these days. If this were a debate we were having 50 years ago where there were no index funds then maybe it would put you at some kind of economic disadvantage not to be able to own stocks. I think if you're -- you know, you're a member of Congress and you're out there to serve the public it's the least you can ask.
And probably this should also extend to people who serve in other economically sensitive positions. We've had a few sensitive disclosures about people on the Federal Reserve Board who are deciding interest rates --
ROMANS: Of course.
JAKAB: -- which are very influential for stock. Arguably, they should even put their mutual funds into a blind trust because decisions that they make can have a big impact just on the general level of stock prices.
ROMANS: Spencer Jakab, great discussion -- "Wall Street Journal." Nice to see you. Thanks for getting up early for us.
[05:55:01]
And thanks for joining us --
JAKAB: Thanks.
ROMANS: -- this Monday morning, folks. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: Happy Valentine's Day. I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It is Monday, February 14th, Valentine's Day.
