This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.
Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. True. Get the most out of your vehicle with GM Genuine Parts and AC Delco original equipment, the only parts designed, engineered, tested, and backed by General Motors. You can find your perfect fit for most makes and models and choose from three tiers of parts, including GMOE or gold and silver aftermarket parts.
Visit GMParts.com for more information. Good morning, I'm Jane Pauley, and this is a special edition of Sunday Morning, our money issue. We've been hearing a lot lately about rising gas prices, not to mention the cost of food, health care, and well, just about everything. There's no question Americans are feeling squeezed. Affordability has become the number one concern of families across the country.
But as Jolene Kent will tell us, nothing threatens the pursuit of the American dream more than the affordability crisis in housing. It's spring home buying season. But for millions of Americans, the dream of home ownership feels out of reach. Why is owning a home so important to you? For me, it's a sense of accomplishment.
It just feels Like we're stuck. A look at the American Dream. ahead on Sunday morning. Few Hollywood actors can match the star power of Scarlett Johansson. But as Tracy Smith will share while she brings in billions at the box office, That's just one item on her business resume.
Yeah. Hey, you. She's one of Hollywood's favorite faces, but Scarlett Johansson had a problem with her skin. you know, it can really affect your Self-confidence. Did you feel bad?
Totally, of course. The outset is. And now she's the face and founder of a company with a solution. It can be here, like up here. Scarlett Johansson later on Sunday morning.
David Pogue this morning answers a question we've all been wondering about. Are our phones spying on us? Seth Doan tells us why electric cars from China are making major inroads in Europe. Susan Spencer looks into a new service that helps consumers take on the nation's health insurance companies. Luke Burbank explains the enduring appeal of Bingo.
Plus Robert Costa on how the AI economy is impacting towns across America. Faith Saley on four decades of success for the American Girl Doll. and more. It's our money issue. and we'll be back after this.
Yeah. For generations, owning a home has been central to achieving the American dream. but as Jo Lynn Kent tells us for many, that dream may be slipping away. I did everything I was supposed to do. I was in the military.
I went to college. I worked. And We can't buy a home. What did I do wrong? Johnny Wrangell feels stuck.
The mom of five in Chandler, Arizona, tells us she can't catch a break. I'm a nurse and I love it. I love it. It's great. And what does your husband do?
He's a manufacturing tech at Intel.
So we have we have pretty good jobs, decent jobs. Do you feel like those jobs are enough to cover your living expenses? And Not even close. We pay about three grand in rent. We have all of the utilities.
We have car payments, car insurance. Mouths to feed. And gas, maybe we have enough left over for groceries and toiletries and household stuff. Why are we struggling? Wrangel and her husband, KC, are both in their 40s and have never owned a home.
They're part of a growing number of millennials who see themselves as forever renters because they can't afford to buy. This home I'm renting. goes for six hundred thousand dollars. We can. afford a six hundred thousand dollar home.
you know with our income Maybe three hundred thousand. And what would that get you around here? It's not going to be a lot. Since the start of the pandemic in twenty twenty, home prices across the country have soared nearly fifty percent, today's median price four hundred sixteen thousand dollars. We are also looking at high mortgage rates, which means it's expensive to borrow money to buy a home.
And that's if you can find a home in your price range. Danielle Hale is Chief Economist at Realtor.com. One of the reasons is that we haven't had enough building over the last decade. And when you have a shortage of supply and a steady amount of demand, the way the market solves that is by pushing prices higher. How short are we?
The estimates vary. At Realtor.com, we estimate there were 4 million homes short. Home prices have gone up. 300% since 1990. How have incomes kept up?
Incomes have gone up as well, but by roughly half that amount. If the prices of homes have tripled, and incomes have not kept pace, does this just automatically take a large population out of the running?
Well, I don't think it totally shuts people out because home ownership is such a central part of the American dream. A Realtor.com survey found that 75% of Americans believe in that dream, and it can be done, but it might require pulling up roots and heading to the heartland. Come visit Topeka, give us just one day. Yes, Topeka, Kansas, as in there's no place like home. This is a city where the American dream is still possible.
Bob Ross is one of the leaders behind Choose Topeka, a program offering people a relocation incentive of up to $15,000 to move to town. Who is the typical participant who applies and gets into this program? They're coming from over 37 states and they recognize that the cost of living that they can get here is so much more meaningful to them. Choose Topeka is funded by a half-cent county sales tax. And when you visit Topeka, you might decide to stay.
More than 200 families have moved to the capital city of Kansas since it launched in 2020. And Ross says 90% of them have stayed. This feels like what I've always envisioned. my family home to be. Less than two years ago, Allison and Jacob Reynolds were living in Northern California with a newborn.
On average, where we lived, a two-bed, one-bath house would be $500,000. Like That's like kind of a fixer-upper.
So just yeah, it would have been. Unfeasible for us financially without support from someone else. Turns out, Allison, a high school teacher expecting baby number two, is a Topeka native. How did this movement change America? The couple took advantage of the Choose Topeka boomerang incentive, which offers past residents $5,000 to move home.
The grant Incentive that we applied for and received completely covered our moving expenses. Would you have made the move without? I think we might have, but it would have definitely left a hole in our pocket. Yeah. Would have needed some help.
Yeah, so that down payment on the house kind of emptied us out. They purchased their four bedroom home for $179,000, their monthly mortgage in Topeka, $1,300, compared to $1,800 a month for rent in California. 500 bucks of savings they put towards child care. Woo! Good job!
The Reynolds bought in their early 30s, beating today's average 40-year-old first-time homebuyer. And that gives them a head start. If you can buy a home closer to age 30 versus age 40, that means you have a $100,000 additional net worth boost by the time you turn 50. Back in Arizona, 41-year-old Jenny Wrangell is still chasing the dream. I'm not gonna give up.
The goal is to buy a home in three years. If I have to get a second job as a nurse, Then so be it. You will do that. I'm going to do it because I'm going to give my kids something to be proud of. You can find them all over Europe.
Electric cars made in China. Our Seth Doan takes the wheel. And I'm going to have this lovely, beautiful seed line 7 that you see before you. Lovely, beautiful. What is lovely and beautiful about it?
The ride, the drive, the suspension, the comfort, the level of technology is far superior than anything I've had before. This sort of pitch is typical at a dealership, except Justin Watson. It's like a throne. He's a customer. Literally like a throne.
It's like I'm royalty. And you know, you're greeted by this beautiful screen. He's trading in his Lexus for a BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams. It's a Chinese car company you won't really find in the US, but which overtook Tesla last year as the world's top seller of fully electric vehicles. While Tesla is ahead in early 2026, BYD still leads when including hybrids.
The taboo's gone, I think. Long are the days where you bought cheap from China and it didn't last long. They're putting a lot of emphasis on quality. How are sales? Sales are excellent.
Paul Tanner is the boss here at Allen Day in London in business for more than 50 years, primarily selling Volkswagen. Did you ever think you'd be selling Chinese cars? No, but when you see the growth, and the quality of the product, it's it's phenomenal. BYD tailors some of its marketing to social media, pitching at the high-end vehicles that can go in water. Turn 360 degrees in place, have longer battery life, and claim soon a five-minute charge.
Well China is miles ahead of the rest of the world. Ben Nelms is with New Automotive, a UK think tank. He says China's long-term investments in innovation are paying off. By some estimates, BYD can make cars for 25% less than competitors in the West. BYD has been so successful because it started life as a battery company.
So it owns the whole supply chain before the car. It's able to produce batteries very cheaply and it's been exporting them all over the world. But interestingly, you won't see a BYD on the roads in the US, at least not many of them. Not unless you pay a significant price, no. We're not going to let China...
Flood our market. In 2024, President Biden slapped China with 100% tariffs on its electric vehicles or EVs. I'm determined. That the future of electric vehicles will be made in America by union workers. Period.
So it doubles the cost of the car. Pretty impractical. It makes it impossible, yeah. It it effectively closes the market to the import of those vehicles. President Trump kept those tariffs and also relaxed emissions standards and removed incentives to buy EVs.
Tariffs in the UK and Europe are much lower. In Norway, 97% of new cars sold are electric. China is the world's largest market where about half of new car sales are EVs compared to less than 10% in the US. From the perspective of American automakers, how important, how valuable is a tariff like this on Chinese EVs?
Well, I think they see it as very important, but whether or not it's the best thing for them I think is arguable. If you stifle innovation and if you stifle competition and you stop there from being a free and open market, then actually markets stop delivering what they should do, which is good products at good cost to consumers. Isn't it saving jobs, at least now in the US?
Well, it might be temporarily, but I suppose in the longer term, that's a lot less certain. If the future of all car making is electric car manufacturing, then you might simply be preventing American car makers from making that journey. And then at some point in the future, they will eventually be exposed to that competitive pressure. That pressure could be building as gas prices soar due to the war in Iran. But Justin Watson is expecting big savings.
Do you ever talk to any American friends about your Chinese car firms? I've got family in America, New Jersey, they're jealous. Absolutely jealous. It's big fun, big excitement, and these days, big business. What is it?
Bingo Here's Luke Burbank. You guys ready for a good night? We are too. Let's do this. It's a Thursday night in Olathe, Kansas.
And at the local American Legion, that means reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And yelling bingo. Bingo!
Yes, it doesn't get much more American than Bingo at the Legion. But make no mistake, this is serious business. I'm one number away like, oh my gosh, this is my time, this is my time to shine, but... I haven't signed yet. I 25.
With significant cash on the line. I like the game in general, yes. But winning money, of course, is the best thing ever. Earl McKinley wouldn't mind winning, but he's actually here for another reason. This was your mom's bingo bag.
So this has been a family affair for years. When you come out and play bingo, do you feel a connection with her? I feel connections with her. Yeah, when I'm out there playing because that's what she loved to do. to tell her die and dead.
Where else can you go for three hours of entertainment for 25 bucks? Dennis Baker is a retired airman and now bingo caller. Says it's hard to overstate how vital this is for the Legion's finances. For us, it keeps the doors open. You're saying financially this is Completely essential to the operation of this American agency.
If we didn't have this, Uh this Place would not be here. 075. 075. The roots of bingo are actually believed to go back centuries to Italy.
So there's a couple different predecessors to bingo. According to Mirek Stolly, a curator at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. Back in 1929, an American toy salesman named Edwin S. Lowe discovered a carnival game called Beano, which used beans to mark the cards. Then he showed it to some people back home.
And the legend goes that one of the participants, uh when they you know they got the five in the row, uh they screamed out Bingo rather than Bino accidentally and the name stuck from there. Stolly says the game's simplicity, the first player to match called-out numbers in a specific pattern wins. And its ability to let large groups play all at once is why Bingo raises billions of dollars for charities and nonprofits alike. And if you look at the IRS tax codes, they have like a special exemption for bingo specifically where they lay out like, oh, you know, typically play it on a five by five board. The fact that it's enshrined in the IRS tax code, I think, really speaks to how important it has become in that space.
Woo-hoo! At the edge of the bingo space. Out. The far edge is the aptly named Bingo Loco. Part Rave.
Park karaoke.
Some part bingo. The idea started almost a decade ago when three friends in Ireland were trying to get some people to the pub. These days, it's in 300 cities worldwide and they say generates close to $20 million a year. Bingo Loco is just one of a variety of new spins on this old game. There's song bingo, drag bingo, online bingo, about anything you can imagine bingo.
Yeah. However you play. Just don't forget that all-important magic word. Oh. For many of us, dealing with health insurers is quite simply a nightmare.
Susan Spencer tells us about a new service that has you covered. Marketing executive Matthew Evans lived with chronic back pain for eight agonizing years. Is there a way to explain to somebody who's never experienced this sort of pain what that's like? In a word, excruciating. By 2024, he had trouble just walking.
He had exhausted non-invasive treatment and his doctors agreed he needed surgery. his insurance company had other ideas. They went back to my surgeon. and said, your patient needs another six weeks. of physical therapy.
So Evans reluctantly complied for six more pain filled weeks, and even after that his insurance denied coverage again. And again. Emotionally, it's like a roller coaster. Physically, I just wanted relief. But no relief came.
Seven months went by. His condition deteriorated. Everybody I saw said this damage could become worse and or permanent if the surgery isn't done as soon as possible. Twenty seven million Americans don't even have health insurance, so Evans had considered himself lucky until he actually needed it.
Well, you're not arguing that the insurance company shouldn't have a voice in this. No. but they shouldn't have the definitive voice. Most Americans agree. Seventy-three percent say healthcare delays and denials are a major problem.
It's not the case that the providers are the angels and the insurance companies are the devils. I mean, we could do another show about hospital pricing, but I think that for consumers, consumers feel like, hey, doctors are actually doing something. They're trying to do something that they say will help me. And here's this intermediary coming in and saying that they can't do it. Author Catherine Hempstead, Senior Policy Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, has seen this play out over and over again.
I just heard a story yesterday about someone who was really benefiting from taking Botox from migraines and all of a sudden denied. 20% of claims are denied. 20%. which is a major reason why Jeff Witten and Ben Howard co-founded a company called Sheer Health. We built this company for patients.
You can just take a picture of the bill and upload it to SheerHealth. We'll handle everything. He means everything. Sheer Health will fight every insurance battle on behalf of every client, either for $40 a month or for a percentage, if they get money back. Our goal is for people to never have to deal with their health insurance again.
We reached out for comment from AHIP, a national trade organization for health insurance companies. The group responded in part. Health plans, providers, and drug makers share a responsibility to make high-quality care affordable and easier to navigate. But Matthew Evans struggled in vain to get coverage for his back surgery until he found sheer health. Scheer reviewed every last word of his policy and authorization request, submitted an expedited appeal to his insurance company, and worked with his doctor just to understand the authorization issue.
Scheer got everything resolved. And I finally had my surgery in mid-October. How you doing? I'm doing great. A year ago, could you have done this?
Could you have just gone out and walked down the street? I could have walked for Maybe 10-15 steps. Katherine Hempstead thinks sheer health's success speaks to our healthcare system's failure. I think it's sad that we need that. It's treating a symptom, you know, which is often a good business idea, but it doesn't it doesn't make me feel like, okay, that's all we needed.
This seems to amount to buying insurance on your insurance. Kind of. Yeah. What we clearly need, with or without sheer health, is is a system that works. It's people's lives.
that these insurance companies hold in the balance. Take that seriously. You're not. their medical practitioner. Don't act like it.
You know, you've suspected it. Is your phone spying on you? Inspector David Pogue is on the case. Uh A lot of people have had a very creepy experience with their phones.
Sometimes like when I talk about something with my friends, then I'll like look on TikTok 30 minutes later and then like the same thing will show up. We were talking about this trip before we came and then my Instagram reels were just full of New York content for weeks. You say something to your friends or like oh I want to watch this movie or I haven't tried this type of food and then the second you open the app it shows you exactly that.
So it's a bit strange. Is my phone listening to me? It is not. I've been asked about this a million times, and I can guarantee you that your phone is not passively listening to you for advertising purposes.
So people have brought this up to you at parties and Oh, my whole family thinks it's true. Erry Papero is a veteran of the ad industry, a consultant and author. He says that there's no way anyone could process audio from billions of phones. Listening to every conversation around the world and interpreting them and looking for certain words and then matching them to the ads is impossible.
So why does it seem like the phone is listening? First, because advertisers do target you with ads tailored to your interests. But they don't need to listen to what you say to do that. they can infer or deduce things about you, like where you live and your age and probably what you're interested in based on what websites you went to or what apps you've used. And that whole combination can get pretty precise.
And second, because you might live with someone who searched for a product online. I told my wife Man, we gotta get a better peeler for our carrots. And then Facebook shows me an ad for a peeler. Right. Your wife could have looked for a peeler, and then the ad company couldn't really tell the difference between her and you because you're using the same internet in the same household.
That happens a lot. How do we know that the phone is not listening for what we say? I mean, has anyone ever like done a test? We did a study with thousands of apps on an Android device and wanted to see as you interact with these apps. Are they recording your audio and sending it off?
David Chaufnis is a professor of computer science at Northeastern University, and yes, he conducted a study. We didn't see any surreptitious recording of information. But these companies are very good at watching everything you're doing online. Oh, you got a little apartment here. And what you're doing in your home.
Choffness has set up a fake apartment filled with online devices to study how much data they send. We have smart appliances, we have cameras, we have every smart speaker we can get our hands on. We try to identify are they sending data to places we're not comfortable with.
Now the advertisers do not know who you are. They don't have your name or address, but they do know what categories you fit into. Many states require data collection companies to give you your advertising profile on requests. Chaufnis, for example, got a copy of his. This is my famous data report of over 300 pages, just filled wall to wall with inferences about me.
I do not have an Xbox. Oh, oops. Although it's not especially accurate. You're extremely likely to go on a cruise. Which is interesting because I never want to go on a cruise.
If you'd like to minimize the data you're feeding advertisers, there are a few steps you can take. You can push your lawmakers to come up with laws that are favorable for consumers and not just favorable for the businesses that are collecting data from us. The Safari browser doesn't allow a lot of this. That must make advertisers furious. Advertisers are not big fans of Apple and Safari.
And you don't think the phone is overhearing you. I'm sure the phone is not overhearing you. And you're equally sure that no one's really going to be convinced when they see this. I'm positive that no one will believe me. Rob Esla, you're looking.
Fetching as usual. It's because of you my son can't walk properly and has a messed up face. Stole the hanger late. Just took it. Yeah, yeah.
She's been box office gold for decades now. But with her new business taking off, Scarlett Johansson finally has some real skin in the game. as Tracy Smith explains. Shm. On screen, she's always been flawless.
Did anyone ever tell you? He play a very aggressive game. in every role. That's all it's been about, bringing everybody back. And in every galaxy.
But away from the flattering lights and makeup, Scarlett Johansson was always bothered by the way she looked. I felt like I had to wake up. and like cover up all this acne before I got to work, which is like. It's a lot of effort. It weighs on you.
Where were you in your career when you had that kind of aha moment, like, let me stop doing this to myself?
So it was about, yeah, like 11, 12 years ago. Um, yeah, in the middle of my career, but I mean, I'd been dealing with my own skin struggle since I was. 12, you know, and on the set of the horse whisperer, I remember the makeup artist being like, Oh, you've got, you know, like Mount Vesuvius on your forehead. And I was like, lah, you know, it's like a preteen adolescent, you're just so self-conscious, and then you have makeup artists pointing it out, and, you know, you're working on set, and like people are trying to kind of light around it. And, you know, that's, it's just awful.
I am not that hungry. I might eat later. For now, I'm just going to chew on these grapes. And so, after coping with acne and breakouts for years and basically trying everything, she started her own skincare line. The outset is the ease of simplicity.
It's called The Outset, a line of products designed for people with sensitive skin, like hers. I use this day cream underneath my makeup and it soaks right in. To hear her tell it, there's an outset product for everyone and every skin condition, like melasma. Do you use this? You don't have any dark spots?
I actually do have melasma. I started getting melasma about 10 years ago. And that's usually like dark around here? It can be anywhere, but it can be here, like up here, sunspots, all of that. I don't see it though.
I know this. I'm telling you, this product is fantastic. Seems Scarlett Johansson would have had a great career in sales if she didn't have that other job. I don't know how I can do anything. She was just thirteen when she starred opposite Robert Redford in The Horse Whisperer.
Were you a problem with that? Isn't it like obvious? But she quickly grew into the perfect ingenue, an image she says she found hard to break out of. Were you offered the same sort of parts over the past? Yeah, you would get really like pigeonholed and offered the same, like it would be the other woman or like the yeah, the side piece, the bombshell.
Like that was an archetype I think that was like there was just a lot of. When I was that age. Did you ever worry that, oh, if I don't take this job, maybe this will be the Last offer? Yeah, oh my gosh, forever. I felt that way for so long.
Every actor feels like that. Because it is so competitive. And I think once you do have The spotlight, you know, you want to keep it on you. I mean, that's the instinct, I think, for a young actor, or any actor. you know i've just now now that i've got the you know everyone's attention i have to kind of keep their attention Beatrice says to be a woman, but still, why don't she be a woman?
If I was a wife, I'd make him in happy instead of going at him all the time. But Johansen chose roles like her Tony-winning Broadway turn in A View from the Bridge that broke the bombshell barrier. And now, as an established star whose films have raked in an astonishing $15 billion, she can take aim at other goals, like building a business for the ages. Are you obsessive? Yeah, I think so in a good way, you know, I mean, actually in a way that serves me at the outset.
You know, probably in other areas of my life, not as much, but yeah. Welcome to Weekend Dublin. I'm Michael Shea. I'm Colin Joast. Johansen's husband, Saturday Night Live star Colin Joast, has been involved in his wife's business from the early days.
Maybe drafted is more like it. We just have to leave this on for a good, I don't know, 10 minutes. Do you have 10 minutes to spare? We have 10 hours?
So this is clay. Um This is blue clay. Blue clay. Is that like a good kind of clay? It's a great kind of clay.
Oh, okay. Colin has been, is it fair to say, a guinea pig for some of these products? He actually has been a guinea pig, my skincare guinea pig. I remember we had a product that had. It was like a face mask that had this kind of like a tingling sort of sensation, and I forgot to tell him about that part of it.
Yeah, I think he thought that I had basically given him.
some sort of like I don't know that he was having an allergic reaction to the vibe. He was like, It's burning, it's burning. Like, is it supposed to be doing this? I was like, Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about that. Um, yeah, just let's use some cool washcloths and it'll go away.
At 41, Johansson's racked up enough acclaim for someone twice her age. First of all, I love my mother. She was a wonderful mother. She's repeating what you told me. Secondly, how dare you compare my mothering to my mother?
I may be like my father, but I- Including Oscar nods for two different movies the same year. Marriage story. We must celebrate it. We have to dance to show God we are grateful. To be alive.
and JoJo Rabbit. You were nominated for two Oscars the same year. You've won a Tony. You have this thriving business. Do you allow yourself to say, hey, Nice, Scarlett.
I'm getting better at it, I think, but I. Yeah, it's hard for me to have perspective. Right now, I think maybe because I'm in the thick of all of it, but I'd like to get better at, you know. I don't know, patting myself on the back, it's a probably, it's a good habit to have. I don't know that that's like ingrained in me as a person.
So it's probably something I have to like learn how to do more of. Yeah. Ah! After all, as a movie star, mother of two, and now budding skincare mogul, Scarlett Johansson is used to playing multiple roles, and she's wise enough not to let any of them define her. I'm sure you've talked about work-life balance.
Do you think there is such a thing? Have you achieved that? No. I think actually admitting that there is no work-life balance is The first step to kind of getting there, in a way, because it's just not, it's not possible. There's always something that is, you know, there's a deficit in some area.
I've learned to be more kind to myself in that way. Like, you can't do all of these things all the time. And so, you know, there's just like, is it good enough? Yeah, good enough. Despite its promise, there's plenty of concern about our AI future.
But in towns across America one issue is already front and center. Here's Robert Costa. Archbald is a little corner of northeastern Pennsylvania where coal used to be big business. But now, there is a new boom. Data centers.
There are multiple projects happening at the same time.
So we're not just looking at one, we're looking at many. Yes. Kaylee Cornell, a teacher, and Sarah Gabriel, an ICU nurse, run a neighborhood association in this community of 7,000. where a half dozen data centers have been proposed. What's it like living in Archbald?
It is a really nice small town. It feels like home. I just really love it and I can't imagine being anywhere else. But they and others are alarmed about the possible impact on the environment, their electric bills, and the town's character. It's gonna just completely change the landscape.
Anywhere there's trees, there's probably not gonna be any longer. We'll stop it if we can help it. Stopping it won't be easy. Demand is huge. Tech companies say they need these massive structures full of computing power to fuel the AI revolution.
so developers are rushing to build them in places like Archbald. rich in land, water, and power. But there is an intensifying debate over the scope of jobs and revenue they bring. and many communities are on edge. about rising electric utility bills.
We made up our minds. Go home. In Archbald, the push to slow things down has upended local politics. and one project has hit a roadblock. You didn't expect to fight against AI superpowers in the global economy and the development of our business.
We don't want to be. No, no.
So this wasn't part of the plan. No, not at all. And we're not against. AI data centers. But because the industry is so new and unregulated, it is concerning that if we just keep moving forward, we're going to get to a point where like a point of no return.
Elsewhere, data centers are already a way of life, with more than 4,000 and counting in operation across the country, and many more going up around the world. Here in Loudoun County, Virginia, known as Data Center Alley, these anonymous sci-fi-looking buildings seem to be everywhere. This building right here is north of a million square feet, but you could visualize it. You could park Maybe not just one, but two aircraft carriers. Two aircraft carriers.
Andy Power is the president and CEO of Digital Realty, which owns and operates hundreds of data centers globally. Just how big Is this sector? hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars as an asset class. Power knows that these sprawling sites can seem ominous. But he is confident they are the backbone of the emerging AI economy.
The digital infrastructure that you're standing next to essentially could be the breakthroughs that cure new diseases. They'll say essentially improve quality of life. What would you say to someone? Who says, Andy, We respect what you're doing, but we just don't want it here. I would say I completely understand it.
Let me tell you why this location makes the most sense for the data centers. And this infrastructure is going to help change the world you're living in today and for years to come. In Washington, there are fierce critics calling for a moratorium on data center construction until tougher AI regulations are enacted by Congress. I fear that Congress is totally unprepared. for the magnitude of the changes that are already taking place.
But President Trump and many Republicans say data centers are vital for our future economy. How important is it for America to win this race in AI? I mean, I think it's... the most important question facing our country. Senator Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican, has worked to bring data center investments to his home state.
I think the net benefit for Pennsylvania is enormous. He says data centers need to work with, not against, communities. but wants companies building in his state. There's got to be a covenant. There's got to be a promise.
that goes from the community to those that are developing in the community. Of what kind of job creation, how they're going to protect the environment, how they're going to protect water supply, how they're going to protect energy costs. When a community looks at the totality of the jobs, the tax revenue, The new roads, the libraries, the schools, the opportunity of jobs for their kids. I think these are pretty compelling. Back in Archbald, the data centers continue to move forward.
and for Kaylee Cornell and Sarah Gabriel. It's a reality. They're grappling with every day. People live here because of the quality of life. Yes, obviously you need jobs, but This would be intrinsically changing the character of Archibald Burrow.
So you feel like you still have a fighting chance to stop this. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah. I mean we have no other alternative. I mean It's our home.
We have to fight. It's a success story that Faith Saley tells us is truly all-American. Yeah. I was literally like, can we speed up the days? I wanna speed up time.
I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go. There's just something timeless about an American girl doll.
So your birthday treat was to come here? Yes. If you have a child or a grandchild, you probably know what I'm talking about. Oh, this is so cute.
Something they look forward to every year. And after 40 years and 40 million dollars sold, that appeal is only growing. From my best friend. Probably Melody. The flagship store in New York is like a walk through history, which is what founder Pleasant Roland, a schoolteacher, wanted.
Pleasant went on a business trip to Colonial Williamsburg and she was so awed. She said to herself, how can I make history come alive for children in the way Colonial Williamsburg makes history come alive? Author Valerie Tripp worked closely with Roland from the start. This is the original pitch for American Girl that Roland sent her. It fit right on a postcard.
And I was like, all right, pleasant.
So basically, what you're saying is you're going to start a publishing company. a furniture company a dress company, you're going to run stores that have restaurants in them.
Okay. In 1986, they created the first three characters complete with backstories: Kirsten, a Swedish immigrant in Minnesota in 1854. Samantha, an orphan in turn of the 20th century, New York, and Molly, a girl on the home front in World War II. Each doll came with a series of books. You imagine how does Molly feel with her father away?
How does Kit feel when her father loses his job and they may lose their house? Tripp has written more than ninety books, all celebrating girl power in virtually every American era. All the stories teach the point, yeah. Hard things are going to happen to you. Really, unfair things are going to wallop you from outside.
You don't deserve that. But you're going to be okay. Technically, it's the guest room, but we all call it the doll room. Yes, you do. Those American Girl life lessons appealed to some American boys, too.
These characters, they just mean so much to me. When Blake Shagnon was 10 years old, he saved up his allowance and asked his best friend to secretly buy him this American Girl doll. I was a young boy going through a lot. And this one doll was there in her stories and helped me overcome some really traumatic events in my life. It's not a secret anymore.
Shagnon has one of the most significant historical collections in America, with more than 150 dolls and thousands of accessories. My heart is with the historical characters, always will be. 40 years ago, the dolls cost $68. Today, they start at $135. There are now more than 50 different characters, from Melody in 1960s Detroit to Raquel Reyes, who happens to be the Samantha Dahl's great-great-granddaughter.
This was the original catalog from September of 1986. This must have been so exciting to receive. Jamie Siegelman is head of dolls for Mattel, which purchased Pleasant Roland's Company in 1998. She says every detail from the dolls' stories to their style is researched for historical accuracy. There's something so sweet and comforting about their little girl smiles.
Everyone knows an American girl by those two little teeth in the front. We do have a couple of exceptions where it's important for accuracy. Kaya, our Native American doll, she hails from the Nez Perce tribe. That culture felt a child smiling was actually a form of aggression. And so she's got a closed mouth.
And behind all of it, Roland's wish to create magical and teachable moments for children. What do you think the legacy is of American Girl that A girl met it at a time in her life where she was deciding who she was going to be, and the books and the stories became part of who she was. Evidently, she wants to pass that along to her child as well. Oh she has a little cussy. Thanks for listening.
I'm Jane Pauley. Please join us when our trumpet sounds again next Sunday morning. From the trusted team behind 48 Hours, welcome to Case by Case, your weekly update on the biggest true crime stories unfolding right now. Nick Ryder remains in custody without bail. Luigi Mangioni, accused of stalking and gunning down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
From high-profile trials and stunning evidence to major breaks in cold cases, we'll follow it all case by case. Follow and listen to 48 Hours case by case wherever you get your podcasts. CBS Sundays, it's three incredible heroes on one unmissable night. The night starts with a new era of Yellowstone in the CBS original Marshalls. Casey Dutton is back and bringing Range Justice to Montana.
Then Justin Hartley stars in TV's number one show, Tracker. When your loved one goes missing, he's the man for the job. Followed by Morris Chestnut as the world's best detective in Watson. Marshalls, followed by Tracker and Watson, CBS Sundays starting at 8-7 Central and streaming on Paramount Plus.
