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First Move with Julia Chatterley
The Senate Agrees a Debt Ceiling Deal, but Jobs Growth Disappoints in September; The Irish Joining the Drive for a Global Minimum Corporate Tax Rate; China Boosts Coal Output to Counter its Energy Crunch; Interview with Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA). Aired 9-10a ET
Aired October 08, 2021 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:11]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Live from New York. I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here is your need-to-know.
Calamity canceled. The Senate agrees a debt ceiling deal, but jobs growth disappoints in September.
Ireland's eye to eye. The Irish joining the drive for a global minimum corporate tax rate.
And fossil fuel flip. China boosts coal output to counter its energy crunch.
It's Friday, let's make a move.
A warm welcome once again to FIRST MOVE and it's a pretty frantic Friday, actually. We have the latest U.S. jobs report out and it's a mixed bag. Let
me walk you through it. It is weaker than expected, only 194,000 jobs added back in September. We were expecting around a half a million people net to
be hired.
Despite this though, the unemployment rate declined more than expected to 4.8 percent. Don't worry, we're going to explain this or at least try.
Numbers for July and August were revised solidly higher, though which partially offsets that weakness and wage growth was up more than forecast,
too.
I have to say, today's report may slightly complicate the job for the Federal Reserve. The big question is: Is tapering tempered even in the face
of rising price pressures? We will discuss.
Let me give you a look for now at the premarket response. Futures are currently lower, mostly low after three straight days of gains. Stocks have
rallied after the short-term breakthrough in the debt ceiling battle. The Senate voting last night to raise the U.S. borrowing limit until December,
just in time for a debt crisis replay during the holidays, perhaps -- cue Christmas carols like "Debt the Halls," "Do you fear what I fear," "Jolts -
- not Joy -- to the World." And of course, "I'm Dreaming of a Default Free Christmas." And that's the key.
Okay, I'll stop now. It is Friday after all. One thing though, that's unstoppable, the rapid rise in energy prices after a brief respite
Thursday. Oil and natural gas on the rise again as China take steps to boost coal production. More details on the implications of that shortly,
too, and that they're lighting a fire under Chinese stocks open once again after a week closed for the holidays, and as you can see, wrapping up
Friday's session in the green.
Wow, there's lots to discuss as always. Let's start with jobs. Rana Foroohar joins us now. Rana, great to have you on the show with us.
As I mentioned there, it's a mixed bag weaker than expected on the numbers, better revisions on the months prior, but the unemployment rate dropping in
the face of a weaker number. What do you make of it?
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: You know, I think this is about stats. You know, the way in which these things are tallied is
bizarre, and it's changing. I mean, if you think about the amount of people that are working from home, particularly women, you know, over the summer,
a lot of women being with children trying to split that be at home go to work sort of thing.
You know, we see a lot of jobs being started, small businesses being created digitally, people starting businesses from home. At the same time,
you have big corporations that are worried about inflation, worried about rising energy prices, and so they're hiring is down.
What to make of that? I mean, I think that we really don't have the statistics at this point that reflect what is going on in the economy.
There have been a lot of small businesses created. There are also a lot of big companies that are stalling on hiring.
I think that once school starts and you start to see what women are really doing, you know, are they going to go back to work now? Do they feel they
have to go back to work with unemployment benefits going down? I think that will give us a better picture.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, one of the things that stands out to me as well, is this sort of squeeze higher that we're seeing in wages. We also had
Hurricane Ida to deal with. We know the bump up in unemployment benefits ran out in September, but it's a little bit soon to see implications there.
It sort of feels like a tight labor market to me.
FOROOHAR: You know, it does. I mean you see "Help Wanted" signs everywhere. You know, as a matter of fact, I was on the phone with a doctor
this morning. And they said, longer hold times because of labor shortages.
You know, there is real pressure, particularly in the sort of, you know, bottom of the labor market service jobs. Whether or not that's going to
increase jobs in the middle, higher quality jobs remains to be seen, and that's really the question for the President and for the Fed, which of
course is thinking about tapering.
You know, Jerome Powell had said, he didn't need to see a great jobs report in order to start pulling back on that bond buying. Does this count? I
mean, it's half -- less than half of what we were expecting.
So I think, there are going to be big questions, and I think we're going to see the market continue, just as it has been this week to be up and down,
up and down.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean. It is less than half, but if you add in the revisions to the prior two months, then it actually doesn't look net-net,
that bad at all, I have to say.
We'll keep guessing, Rana, great to have you with us. Thank you so much.
FOROOHAR: Thanks so much.
CHATTERLEY: You did pretty well on the show. Thank you. Rana Foroohar there, thank you so much for joining us.
[09:05:09]
CHATTERLEY: Okay, let's move on. Ireland is in. The O.E.C.D. scores a major win for its proposed global tax overhaul by recruiting or one of
Europe's lowest rate nations. Ireland has agreed to increase tax on corporate profits to 15 percent. That means sacrificing the low rate that
attracted tech giants including Google, Apple, and Facebook.
Clare Sebastian joins me now. I mean, this is a huge deal. I have to say though, despite what I said there, there is a caveat and it comes in on the
wording here. Talk us through the implications of Ireland and whether or not we've still got holdouts, because that's a challenge for the E.U.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So right now, Julia, in terms of holdouts, we're hearing that in addition to Ireland and Estonia
signing on, Hungary may also have ended its holdout status this morning. That would mean that all of the E.U. members are now in, that would be a
big deal as we move forward to implementation.
But in terms of Ireland, obviously, this was one of the key challenges in getting this deal done. Ireland has prized its 12.5 percent corporate tax
rate. It has attracted not only the big U.S. tech companies, the likes of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, but also Big Pharma companies like Pfizer, and
Johnson & Johnson.
Under this new deal, if it is implemented, Ireland will now raise the rate on companies making more than 750 million euros a year in revenues to 15
percent. They've said that for the rest, it will stay at 12.5 percent. But this is still a big sea change for Ireland. They said essentially, better
in than out, if we don't tax the 15 percent under the global minimum tax, someone else will, so we might as well get those tax revenues.
And under the deal as well, don't forget, Julia, a smaller group of company, the biggest in the world will see that tax receipts redistributed
based on not only where they make profits, but where they make sales. That was a compromise from the United States where most of the Big Tech giants
are headquartered, and that will be a major change. But of course implementation is the big question now -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: That's exactly where I was going to go. I mean, we've got nations like what -- the U.K., India, and France already looking at a
digital tax of their own. The Americans have said, look, if we manage to agree this, those things have to fall by the wayside. But there is
disquiet, isn't there? To seeming whether or not President Biden can get U.S. Congress above everyone, I think across the line here. What's going to
be the biggest challenge do we think in implementation? And are we talking years?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, in a word, Julia, we are, I think talking years. The irony is that the U.S. is the one that has supercharged this process this year,
the compromise brought forward by the Biden administration in the spring that sort of set the framework for the redistribution of the tax on those
biggest global companies. They may now be the ones to slow it down because of course, the Democrats have this razor thin majority in the Senate and
they will need to pass this through Congress to get it through.
The whole point of this really has been to sort of try to level the playing field around the world as the U.S. tries to bring up its corporate tax
rate. So, I think a lot of this hinges on whether they will be able to do it.
But either way, everyone needs to ratify this, all of the O.E.C.D. members. And so, even if it does go smoothly through the Senate, which is sort of
difficult to imagine at this stage, it will still take a couple of years technically to get this done. But after a decade nearly of talking about
this, we are closer than we've ever been.
CHATTERLEY: I was just doing the math on that. So see you in 2025, maybe, plus two more years. Wow. Clare, thank you. Clare Sebastian -- but it is
progress.
Okay, on to China now, where the government is ordering coal mines to ramp up production to ease an energy crisis. It is part of Beijing's struggle to
balance the need to meet rising demand for electricity with measures to combat climate change.
Selina Wang joins us now with the details. And that's exactly it. It's a delicate balancing act, Selina. Welcome to the show. They have to literally
keep the lights on, and I mean that literally, while also maintaining some kind of commitment to decarbonization. What does this mean for that?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Julia, absolutely. What we are seeing here right now is Beijing trying to ease the pain of this energy crisis.
We've learned from Chinese state media that China has ordered 72 coal mines to boost production by nearly a hundred billion metric tons. That figure is
equivalent to about 30 percent of China's monthly coal production.
And what it really highlights here is this tension, the struggle in China to balance the use of coal to keep the lights on while also trying to
tackle the climate crisis. But this energy crisis, Julia, Giulia has been worsening over the past several weeks spreading to most of the country, and
it has caused governments to ration electricity, some factories to suspend production, and as we've discussed before, it's impacting people's daily
lives.
You've got some cities with total blackouts, traffic lights that have stopped working in some places, leading to these severe traffic jams. Shops
that have had to close early or rely on candlelight to stay operational.
[09:10:04]
WANG: But the context here is that coal is still China's main energy source, but in a bid to reduce carbon emissions, China has shut down
hundreds of coal mines earlier this year. But in the short term, experts say that China has little choice but to boost coal production in order to
meet this demand -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's more than half, isn't it? Of their energy consumption coal. I mean, this is what happens when short term realities
collide with longer term aspirations and without good policy and planning and we're seeing it all over the world.
Selina Wang, thank you so much for that.
Okay, let me bring you up to speed now with some of the other stories making headlines around the world. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded
to two journalists for their work defending press freedom. Maria Ressa from the Philippines and the Russian, Dmitry Muratov lead independent news
outlets that expose corruption and abuses of power. Both have faced legal and physical threats because of their work.
CNN's Will Ripley joins us with more. Will, great to have you with us. It's a win for journalism. And I think if we speak about Maria Ressa in
particular here, it's recognition of an incredibly brave woman, both of them, but specifically I think, Maria.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it really goes to show, Julia, that whenever history looks back at the Philippines' story during
these years of the Duterte administration, with his brutal war on drugs. In fact, I was there covering it right before President Trump was inaugurated,
and you saw bodies on the street every night, people who were killed, often by police without any sort of trial, these extrajudicial killings, and
Maria Ressa and the Rappler boldly exposed and uncovered what was happening even when other outlets in the Philippines were kind of bowing to pressure
from the Duterte administration, which at that time, had huge approval ratings.
She stood up against it, and now she has been vindicated despite her legal troubles being accused of libel, alleged tax offenses, violation of foreign
ownership rules in the media. She had to bail herself out of jail and pay these legal fees to get out of this trouble. And yet now, here she is a
winner, a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
So when history looks back, she may have lost the battle in the Philippines, but she won the war, in that she will always be the journalist
who stood up against what many people feel was a really brutal period for the Philippines with that war on drugs -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and because of her, ultimately, we know about it, too. And we're aware of what the country went through and how she managed to
handle it.
RIPLEY: Absolutely. It was -- being there and being there, Julia, and seeing what was happening. And then President Trump coming in, and just
basically, all of the oxygen got sucked out of that story and it all went to covering President Trump and what was happening in Washington.
So you had -- you know, there was no more kind of widespread interest in what was happening in the Philippines. These people, often drug addicts at
the street level who were being killed. Maria Ressa and her team continued to expose and uncover it, so there will always be a historical record of
what was happening, even when many of the eyes of the world were turned elsewhere.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, we say every year that these are worthy winners, but I have to say this is a real heartfelt one. And Will, thank you for being
there and reporting on it, too.
Will Ripley, thank you.
All right, at least 20 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in a suicide attack at a Shia mosque in Afghanistan, according to the group,
Doctors without Borders. The explosion happened in the Northern City of Kunduz during Friday prayers. So far, there's been no claim of
responsibility.
The U.S. Navy says there will be a full investigation after an American nuclear submarine struck something underwater in the South China Sea over
the weekend. Eleven sailors were injured. The damaged sub is now at a naval base in Guam. The incident comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and
China.
Okay, still to come here on FIRST MOVE, forget about Friday, U.S. Congressman Mark Takano says a four-day work week could boost wages and
increase work-life balance. We'll discuss.
And Vestager vindicated? Did this week's Facebook outage prove we are all too dependent on Big Tech? The E.U.'s antitrust chief joins us later on the
show.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:17:04]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stocks are on track for a higher open this Friday after a surprisingly weak U.S. jobs report for
September, less than 200,000 positions added net to the workforce last month. About 300,000 fewer actually than were forecast. That said, job
gains for the previous two months were revised higher and I think that's an important offset.
And the U.S. jobless rate fell to below five percent. That's the first time we've been below five percent since the pandemic began. Although this
decline reflects a drop in the size of the U.S. workforce, too. This is the last jobs report before the Federal Reserve meets to discuss pulling some
pandemic era stimulus, its job becomes slightly harder after today the Fed under extreme pressure, of course, to tighten monetary policy and to
pullback as inflation rises.
Meanwhile, the pandemic has transformed the U.S. labor market and our next guest says it could transform our working hours, too. Congressman Mark
Takano wants to see a four-day workweek. It will create better work-life balance, he says and will also raise wages at the same time he argues
workers will be more productive.
Now, Representative Takano is working on turning that proposal into law, and he joins us now. He is a House Democrat for the State of California.
Sir, fantastic to have you with us on the show. I do want to talk about your proposal because I do find it very interesting. But obviously we're
just digesting what we got from that jobs report in September. And I just wanted to get your sense not on the numbers, but just what you're hearing
from workers in your district and also for employers, particularly small and medium-sized employers. What he's saying about conditions today?
REP. MARK TAKANO (D-CA): Well, I walk around many small businesses and see "Help Wanted" signs up. I see also, you know, people who are part of the
great resignation, so-called in terms of people not wanting to return to the jobs that they were working. That's something about the pandemic
awakened within them, you know, the experience of that life is short, and time is also important.
And many, many people -- workers across the across this nation in America have, you know, awakened to the fact that they only have so much time and
they're looking at returning to better jobs. They are looking for better work or work that more suits them, and they are also concerned about the
work-life balance, and hence, there's a great amount, I think, of attention that is being given to the legislation that I've introduced to shorten the
workweek to 32 hours.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, I was going to say we are calling it a four-day workweek, but it's not really that. What your legislation that you've
proposed is giving workers that work beyond 32 hours, time and a half. So to pay in half for those added hours.
What's the message? What's the aim? And what do you think the outcome would be if this were enshrined in law?
[09:210:10]
TAKANO: Well, the message would be a new norm, and people are looking not to return to normal coming out of this pandemic, they are looking to return
to you know, to a better normal, a new normal, which would mean more work- life balance, perhaps a benefit to the planet by actually increasing the number of days where people drive less. Where we tend to drive less than,
you know, businesses are -- many businesses are not really operating on Saturday and Sunday if we add an additional day, where the planet can
actually also continue to rest, not just people, we can also help global climate change improve, in that area as well.
But really, it's about people being able to address other aspects of their lives. And this is all part of, I think, what's being communicated by
workers when they say they want to keep the greater flexibility that they experienced during the pandemic, and the pandemic had an effect of really
jolting them, shaking up the way we do things.'
And so, you know, many employers are also telling me, they're asking me how I'm personally dealing with workers who wants to work, continue to work
from home, or at least at work one day from home. These are all sort of ways of pointing toward, I think, a shorter workweek. And I think we're
seeing many experiments around the world. This is not something that's coming out of the blue.
You know, the country of Iceland, the country of Scotland. The Japanese are offering guidance to businesses on how to shorten their workweek. It's a
concern, not just here in the United States, but globally.
CHATTERLEY: You know, it's interesting, some of the criticisms I've seen of this and there's obviously been plenty is one, can small businesses
afford this? Will they just pay and perhaps hire somebody else that will do 32 hours for somebody and hire somebody else to do this, which, you know,
as you've already pointed out, I think, it will raise hiring, which is a good thing, assuming that the workers are out there.
But you know, most people work more than 40 hours, actually. And those that do, they do because they get paid too little and they have deep job
insecurity. And some of the criticism is like, would something like this actually raise the inequality. It is fine for those that are better paid to
say, hey, I'm only going to work for four days a week or 32 hours a week. But for those that actually are desperate, and already have two jobs, I'm
not sure it helps them. What's your response, Congressman?
TAKANO: Thank you, Julia, for pointing out this criticism. Really, what we are seeing now is a very tight labor market. One, which I think is already
leveraging workers. This is, I think, the right time to introduce this idea because for those employees that are really in skilled sectors already,
they're valuable, and the employers are worried about losing them to other employers. It would often mean a 10 percent raise. We're not going to see a
cut back on hours in these sectors.
In other sectors where it is looser, you know, say in the restaurant business, many of these restaurants don't actually hire people for a full
400-hour workweek to begin with. And many of those workers are actually about, you know, juggling several or at least two or more jobs.
This would begin overtime pay, as we have noted before, at 32 hours. So this is also a way of, I think giving those workers in those sectors more
leverage in the labor market. So, I don't -- we're talking about those who are subject to the wage and hour laws, those people who are non-exempt,
and, you know, would earn over time earlier.
So we would see, I think the net effect be, I think an upward trending of wages. It is what we need, I think, in this particular time, where there
is, you know, massive income inequality, but really interesting enough, the conversation about shorter workweeks is happening in the highly, highly
skilled sector in the exempt worker space, those people that are highly skilled computer programmers or tech space workers, as well as in the
healthcare industry. You know, people who are highly, you know, licensed professionals.
Here is where, you know, leverage as workers become even, I think even more pronounced because employers as they're looking to compete for these
workers, I think are going to have to start looking toward not just compensation, but also better working conditions.
[09:25:04]
TAKANO: My legislation is, you know, I think intended to sort of coincide with these very sort of rarefied sectors of the labor market, which I think
have a tremendous impact on culture, just the whole broader culture of work.
CHATTERLEY: Congressman, I think the conversation is really important to be having, and I'm actually glad we had it. I just -- my fear is that for a
party and a Congress that didn't manage to raise the minimum wage, despite years of not changing anything that it will remain conversation, but we
will reconvene and we will keep having the conversation.
It was great to have you on the show, Democratic Congressman of California, Mark Takano. Sir, thank you so much for making time for us today. Stay with
us. More to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. "Time" Magazine's Facebook cover pretty much sums up another crisis week for Mark Zuckerberg. He has been on
the back foot fighting claims of placing profits before people, including children. And the social media platform suffered its longest outage in 13
years, which also froze Instagram and WhatsApp.
Globally renowned for tackling Big Tech, the E.U.'s Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager had two takeaways. The Commissioner wants
more players in the space and that's a key aim of course, of the proposed Digital Markets Act or DMA, and she is reminding us there are other ways to
connect, too, like offline for example.
Facebook was just one of many topics for discussion at the first E.U.-U.S. Trade and Technology Council meeting or TTC. China, supply chains, and
regulation were also on the table.
Much to discuss and I am pleased to say that E.U. Commissioner Vestager who is also a co-chair of the TTC joins us now.
Commissioner, fantastic to have you on the show. Welcome. It's always a pleasure.
MARGRETHE VESTAGER, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR COMPETITION: It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you very much for having me.
[09:30:05]
CHATTERLEY: Likewise, I want to talk about Facebook first and the tweet you sent out. I think there were totals made of millions, if not billions
of calls, of texts, of messages, hours that weren't lost trolling on the internet tonight, I say the word "lost" carefully. Did you get proof of
concept for the DMA, the Digital Markets Act in what we saw this week, in your mind?
VESTAGER: I think, you know, I was quite convinced already. But I hope that everyone saw the need -- saw the need for an open market where there
is room for more than giants, because if you get too dependent on a giant, well, if the giant fails, what are you left with?
CHATTERLEY: You know, your second point was also important, and that sometimes just physically talking offline talking is better. But the
challenge, I think, is it costs more, and I think that's the balance -- or it can cost more -- the balance that you have to find when you're tackling
a company that has great utility value, but also drawbacks. How do you find the balance?
VESTAGER: I think it's important also to be really precise about what's the cost, because I think also a lot of time is wasted in checking if there
is an update, as someone said, something spectacular. I think there's a lot of distraction, of time being wasted, not being able to concentrate
anymore.
And I think there is something, you know, fundamental in being willing to disturb one another by taking a normal call. Because during COVID, you
know, I realized, I don't use my phone for calling. I would send people a photograph or a text message, but I don't call them, and I think it's
important that we are willing to disturb one another to say, I would like to speak with you right now. Of course, you can say that you're busy. But I
would like to get in touch with you.
And I think it's important that we have that human interaction and show that we're willing to disturb one another, instead of just relying on
something that can be dealt with, whenever you have time for that, because we need to make it a priority to have time for one another.
CHATTERLEY: You're talking about the human costs, the societal costs, and it's quite interesting because, you know, the legislation that you're
trying to work around as Chief of the Competition Commission, it sort of doesn't allow for the quantification of the societal and the human costs,
and that's part of the challenge, I think that you, but all regulators are dealing with.
We spoke to a small business this week that said they simply wouldn't exist without being able to advertise on Facebook. Again, how do you find the
balance?
VESTAGER: Well, it is indeed tricky. I have a lot of respect for businesses with a small advertising budget, and this is why we have not
taken the step to propose that targeted advertising should be prohibited. What we are asking for is that, you know, why do I see this ad? Not that
it's forbidden, because for advertisers on small budgets, it's really important to have some degree of certainty that your ads are being seen for
someone for whom it is relevant, and that is the balance.
But this is why we're asking for this sort of labeling. You see this ad because of A, B, C, and this is why we ask for transparency, so that vetted
researchers can go through sort of ad libraries, journalists, as well, in order to see what is actually out there.
But it is not only sort of a competition issue, it is also an issue about sort of product or service responsibility because in a physical product, we
would think that it was crazy if someone launched a product and they hadn't checked if it would catch fire, if it would be poisonous, if it would be
dangerous for you.
And here we are asking for the same sort of risk assessment, also of the digital services that the big platforms will have to consider. Is my
service safe? Can it be misused? And if it's not safe, then better mitigate those risks.
CHATTERLEY: I think that's a brilliant analogy. What is competition? And we'll move on to a different tech firm, it is the antitrust investigation
that you launched into Apple Pay last year, the tap and pay payment system, of course only works for Apple iPhones. Can I ask how close you are to
concluding in that investigation and whether you've spoken to Tim Cook?
VESTAGER: Well, we're still -- we are still not close to concluding, we are still in the process of getting the data and making our analysis. For
me, the payment cases, they are quite important because it is a hidden cost. I don't think many people consider that also when we pay, there is a
cost of payment. And it's important that you have choices, because different modes of payment have different costs depending on what you pay
and where you pay and how you do it.
[09:35:27]
VESTAGER: So the payment cases are important for us. But we're still not in anywhere close to sort of the concluding phase.
CHATTERLEY: So the rumors that something is coming imminently are false. I think we get the message.
And you've spoken to Tim Cook? Or you haven't? Or not willing to comment?
VESTAGER: Well, I have spoken to Tim Cook, but not about cases. We had a meeting in New York last week. They have points on our regulation, and I
think it's important that everyone is heard. They know what our aims are, but I will not go into detail with what was in the meeting except for this.
CHATTERLEY: You were gloriously called the Tax Lady by Donald Trump. Congratulations, I think is the -- is my response to that. But you are a
co-chair of the Trade and Technology Council, and this is vital because this is the United States and the E.U. talking about how to -- not
challenge, but to work out how to have a more innovative environment, how to regulate appropriately and perhaps coordinate on this, which I think is
vital.
I mean, you have led the way and been a pioneer, I think on approaching and just actually listening to you now versus sometimes what we hear from U.S.
Congress, I think highlights that point. Is the United States ready to take the kind of actions that the E.U. has and you've pioneered?
VESTAGER: Well, one of the things that I really appreciate was our sort of alignments on artificial intelligence. We have been pushing an approach to
artificial intelligence where we focus on use cases.
Where there is a risk, for instance of discrimination that you're seeing with your gender or your postal code or your background, rather than who
you really are relevant for the service where the AI is being used, and here, I find a lot of alignment. That our U.S. partners and counterparts,
they tend to share this alignment. And we agreed also on a working program to try to figure out how can we measure -- how can we have a tool to help
us measure if we get it right -- to get in control where artificial intelligence and the use of it is threatening to some of our fundamental
values?
And I see a really a step change to the approach to technology compared to what it was five to seven years ago. Because, of course, it's the same
enthusiasm that we share or what a society we can create with this technology. But also, I think, increasingly a sense of urgency in taking
action to create the necessary trust for all the positives to be unleashed now that we, I think, blanket, see the negative sides of technology.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and I think to your point stronger together if some of the biggest nations and regions can coordinate on tackling this and that's
the key.
VESTAGER: Indeed.
CHATTERLEY: I want to move on to a different topic, because as much I want to get your view on.
Some E.U. nations are concerned in terms of what we're seeing in rising energy prices that Russia is using its leverage in terms of natural gas
supplies and energy supplies to propel prices higher and have raised concerns with the E.U. Can I ask whether the European Commission -- can I
ask where you stand on this and how concerned you are?
VESTAGER: Well, I'm really concerned about the spike in energy prices. Both of course for industry, but also for households who lives in a low
budget, where the energy bill is really -- it takes a toll on what they have to do with. So this is a very important point.
And what we see is that we are still very affected by the prices of imported fossil fuels. So, for the long term, it's really important to have
more renewables that are so to speak native to Europe, that be solar or that be water or that be a wind in order not to have this vulnerability
from imported fossil fuels.
[09:40:00]
VESTAGER: And second, to make sure that we make the most of the market design that we have where the cheapest energy production is being put into
use first in order to make full use of the renewable production that we have already.
We will launch next week sort of a catalogue, a toolbox of what member states can do in order to soften, to cushion what vulnerable households are
experiencing right now. But also, of course, we ask some of the great energy providers like Gazprom what it is that is happening, because it is
indeed important for us also as a law-enforcing competition authority to take a keen interest in the market developments with the big providers.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I fundamentally believed for a long time that you are the busiest woman in Brussels, and you've only confirmed it with this
conversation.
Thank you so much for joining the show today. Great to get your insights. And yes, you have a lot going on. So we'll let you get back to work.
Margrethe Vestager --
VESTAGER: It was my pleasure.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
VESTAGER: Thank you very much.
CHATTERLEY: Executive Vice President of the European Commission and co- chair of the Trade and Technology Council. Great to chat with you. We'll speak again soon, please.
VESTAGER: Yes, I hope so. Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
Okay, coming up after the break, an economic inequality game changer. Why the hot new show "Squid Game" could be Netflix's biggest yet?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE with a look at how U.S. stock markets are performing. It's the last trading day of the week, and we've
been pretty volatile in early trade. The major averages, where are we? Well, yes, we're pretty much unchanged. We're still on track to finish the
week with gains. Investors having to navigate a huge number of important issues including continued labor market uncertainty.
The U.S. reporting today that only 194,000 jobs were added in September, a downside surprise, and actually the weakest month of job gains this year.
We saw more than 100,000 job losses in public education and hiring was sluggish in the restaurants and bars. It saw strong gains earlier this
year.
Labor shortages of course, but we did see revisions to the prior two months, which is key. We'll be hearing a lot more in the coming weeks about
what this means for Fed policy going forward and Whether the U.S. Central Bank will begin pulling back stimulus next month as many had expected.
[09:45:05]
CHATTERLEY: One positive though, last night's vote in the Senate to raise the debt ceiling until early December. So, that's a key risk off the
agenda, for now.
Netflix says a show which portrays a kind of economic "Hunger Games" could be its biggest hit yet. It is a dystopian drama called from South Korea's
"Squid Game," and it's becoming the most talked about TV show since "Tiger King" as Paula Hancocks reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On social media, these images are everywhere. On television --
JIMMY FALLON, TALK SHOW HOST: We are here with the cast of "Squid Game."
HANCOCKS (voice over): Everyone is talking about it.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos tweeted, "I can't wait to watch the show." Already hitting number one in 90 different countries on Netflix, "Squid Game" is a
South Korean TV show where 456 debt ridden contestants compete in childlike games for a prize of nearly $14 million. But the penalty for losing is
death.
Show creator, Hwang Dong-Hyuk has wanted to make this show for more than a decade, but studios rejected it.
HWANG DONG-HYUK, CREATOR, "SQUID GAME" (through translator): When I showed it to people, a lot of them said that it was unfamiliar. It is strange and
unfamiliar. What is this? What the hell is this? They said this in a negative way.
HANCOCKS (voice over): South Korea already has a strong film industry with deep talent pools and large profitable studios, but its TV shows were
predominantly romantic soap operas until Netflix arrived.
DONG-HYUK (through translator): I suddenly thought, will I be able to bring the show to life as I wanted if Netflix is involved? I took that
script from 10 years ago and showed it to them. Netflix said they loved it.
HANCOCKS (voice over): Netflix says it has already invested some $2 billion on Asian content and will invest another half a billion on making
new Korean content alone this year.
MINYOUNG KIM, VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT, NETFLIX: I think in the past couple of years we've seen Korean content viewing grow four times in the
region.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Parasite."
HANCOCKS (voice over): This is a Golden Age of Korean cultural exports. One win after another, music, films, TV shows dubbed Hallyu or Korean wave
and it's swept far beyond Asia where it has been popular for the past two decades. Hwang says that this show's message resonates around the world.
DONG-HYUK (through translator): The world is getting much harder to live in. Even in the last 10 years, wealth disparity is growing, nations are
facing economic strife, and the added element of the COVID pandemic has made the wealth gap even worse.
HANCOCKS (voice over): Social disparity mirrored in Oscar winning Korean film, "Parasite." Film experts say that content from South Korea with its
turbulent history of war and military dictatorship traditionally carries a strong political message.
HYE SEUNG CHUNG, PROFESSOR OF MEDIA STUDIES, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY: Media is not just means of entertainment like in the United States or in
the West, the media has been always considered a very important tool for political enlightenment or political resistance.
HANCOCKS (voice over): But it's not all politics.
SEUNG CHUNG: It is still relatively cheap to produce dramas in South Korea compared in America and the "Squid Game," each episode costs less than $2
million, which is half of the price Netflix invested in each episode of "House of Cards."
HANCOCKS (voice over): The younger generation is far more open to foreign language content.
JASON BECHERVAISE, PROFESSOR OF ENTERTAINMENT, SOONGSIL CYBER UNIVERSITY: If you look at those who watched "Parasite," a big, big number of the kind
of audiences or the audience that went to see "Parasite" in the United States was younger people and they were -- they've been really keen to kind
of break that one inch subtitle barrier.
HANCOCKS (on camera): The success of "Squid Game" is already helping other Asian content to trend on Netflix while other streaming platforms are
looking to replicate this enormous success.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: Well, that's my weekend sorted. More to come. We are back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:51:09]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCO ACQUAROLI, EXECUTIVE SOUS CHEF, JUMEIRAH AL NASEEM: This one is a Turkish seabass and this one is French seabass. This one is well -- caught,
this one is farmed, so the one caught can be the double price per kilo, but yes, the farm is still a very nice quality and the average person cannot
spot the difference.
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER (voice over): And that's the problem. Fish stamped as red snapper, but in reality, cheap tilapia. Frozen seafood
sometimes weeks old, masquerading as fresh off the boat. Often you can't tell the difference.
For decades seafood supply chains have been poorly enforced, but Chef Marco says that is slowly changing. His restaurant on Dubai's coast is partnering
with Seafood Soup, a company using technology to eliminate seafood fraud.
SEAN DENNIS, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, SEAFOOD SOUQ: Seafood is an industry that is wrought with not necessarily fraud, but opacity or darkness within the
supply chain. It is very difficult for buyers to know where they are getting their seafood from.
STEWART (voice over): At its core, Seafood Souk is a marketplace connecting fish suppliers with restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets around
the world. The company developed a proprietary algorithm called SFS Trace, which records every detail of the fish's journey from the exact time it was
caught to the type of ice and temperature used during its transport.
DENNIS: We have the ability with technology, with marketplace, with SFS Trace to eliminate the possibility of fraud whether intentional or
unintentional happening.
STEWART (voice over): SFS Trace was originally designed for catering and hospitality to track orders. Now, consumers are benefiting from the
technology.
Today, Seafood Souk is using Chef Marco's restaurant to launch SFS Trace to the customer for the first time.
DENNIS: We, at the end of the day as consumers are the most powerful direction drivers for businesses to make sure they make ethical decisions.
STEWART (voice over): In Chef Marco's kitchen, orders are piling in.
ACQUAROLI: So we are very happy now especially because we can -- with a QR code we're going to put in place, our guest is 100 percent sure from where
the fish was in the last 24 hours.
STEWART (voice over): With the use of technology and a conscious appetite. Thankfully, at Chef Marco's restaurant, the only thing fishy is the meal on
the plate.
Anna Stewart, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. A focus on sustainable building practices at this year's Expo 2020 mean some of the pavilions will remain
on site long after the Dubai Expo ends, as Eleni Giokos explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At Expo 2020, legacy has been at the center of every planning decision. And it's at the
Moroccan Pavilion where you'll find the idea of legacy everywhere.
Taking inspiration from its ancient villages using rammed earth construction techniques, its pavilion merges the classic and the
contemporary.
TARIK OUALALOU, ARCHITECT, MOROCCAN PAVILION: Rammed earth construction is really the oldest construction technique that humans ever used. What we
wanted to do is to lift this tradition from the vernacular into almost an industrial dimension to propose rammed earth as an alternative to concrete.
GIOKOS (voice over): As the tallest country pavilion, it is also, according to its designers, the largest rammed earth facade of its kind.
OUALALOU: It's built like a village. It is 22 houses stacked on top of each other. It's a building experience where all these houses are connected
to a single winding street. It is a building that has 10 gardens that show all of the ecosystems of Morocco.
GIOKOS (voice over): Standing as a country pavilion for now, in six months' time, it will take on another lease of life.
[09:55:06]
OUALALOU: We've actually designed two buildings in one this will be transformed as housing, which is a reason why we've developed this notion
of this village. Each of these volumes that you see will transform into apartments, then the sense of community we are creating will then last
longer.
GIOKOS (voice over): In leaving a lasting legacy, Morocco won't alone as the whole Expo site has been planned as a future and smart city.
AHMED AL KHATIB, CHIEF DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY OFFICER, EXPO 2020 DUBAI: We are leaving an entire city as a legacy of Expo, a city that totally
redefines urban planning and it totally redefines the sustainability, minimal use of water, different there are different ways of building roads
from recycled tires, the layer of technology is extremely beyond any other cities across the world.
GIOKOS (voice over): Leaving behind one of the world's most technologically advanced cities, Expo 2020 is hoping it will continue to
drive innovation long after its World Fair ends in six month's time.
Eleni Giokos, CNN, Expo 2020. Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And finally on FIRST MOVE, an unsinkable gift for Christmas. It's LEGO's largest set ever and it is a replica of arguably the world's
infamous ship, The Titanic. It is more than 1.3 meters long with 9,090 LEGO pieces.
Figurines of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are not included, but we shall survive. The prize, a relatively Titanic sized $630.00. That's the
entire Christmas holiday taken care of as well, but we do try and help you out here.
That's it for the show. Have a great weekend. Stay safe.
Connect the World with Becky Anderson is next, and I'll see you on Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
END
