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President Obama hosted House Speaker John Boehner today, spending nearly an hour together in which they reportedly discussed ways to avert the looming "fiscal cliff" of spending cuts and tax hikes that are due to strike at the end of 2012. Boehner left the White House at 6 p.m., ET, apparently without reaching a deal. As Politico reports, the Republican plans to return to his home state of Ohio this weekend.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Drug cartels are taking to the ocean. That's because security along the land border between the U.S. and Mexico has been beefed up. Smuggling off the coast of Southern California is up 30 percent this year, according to the government, and that has the Coast Guard and Homeland Security warning of an increasingly dangerous situation off the busy coast.

NPR's Kirk Siegler reports.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Now one final time, we'll borrow the words of Ebenezer Scrooge to introduce a series of conversations we've been having.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, A CHRISTMAS CAROL)

GEORGE C. SCOTT: (as Ebenezer Scrooge) I will live in the past, present, and the future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Our next story is an economic mystery. Our Planet Money reporter Chana Joffe-Walt stumbled over it while holiday shopping.

CHANA JOFFE-WALT, BYLINE: The other day, I went to Toys R Us after work to buy my son some Legos for Hanukkah. He's never had Legos before, so I was very excited. But did you know that a basic box of Legos cost 59.99? For just 102 DUPLO pieces, 60 bucks. They're plastic blocks.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: Legos cost a lot of money.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: Yeah, actually, they are expensive.