Latest news with #US230
Sydney Morning Herald
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Inside Jeff Bezos' ‘wedding of the century' in Venice
And there will be another seven vessels of various kinds to provide transport for guests, who are expected to include the British actor Orlando Bloom and his long-time fiancee Katy Perry, Mick Jagger, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Oprah Winfrey, Eva Longoria and Leonardo DiCaprio. Bezos' fellow tech titans Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are also expected at the multimillion-dollar shindig. As befits a man worth $US230 billion ($355 billion), Bezos has booked the most luxurious suites in Venice's finest hotels for his guests. They include the Aman, a five-star hotel on the banks of the Grand Canal that boasts private gardens and Rococo works of art, as well as the equally swanky Gritti Palace, the Danieli, the Marriott and the St Regis – where Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner will reportedly stay. Her father, Donald Trump, may even reportedly make an appearance at the wedding. A short distance away from the Grand Canal is the Belmond Cipriani on the island of Giudecca, which is expected to host Lady Gaga, who is rumoured to perform for the newlyweds. Loading Wedding celebrations and cocktail receptions will reportedly be held in Palazzo Pisani Moretta, a historic building in the heart of Venice, as well as the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a Renaissance building, and the Hotel Excelsior on the Lido, the slender island that separates the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic. The wedding is likely to cost around $25 million, according to one detailed breakdown. The sum includes up to $1.5 million for flowers and the decoration of the various venues, up to $4.5 million for wedding planners, $3 million for the hire of the venues, $1.5 million for the catering and $2.3 million for the bride's dresses. There will also be mooring fees for Bezos' superyachts and the cost of providing lavish gifts for the guests. Luxury hotel suites will make up around $3 million of the overall cost, according to Manuela Pivato, the founder of an online publication called MyFairVenice. She told D Donna, an Italian women's magazine: 'A suite at the Hotel Cipriani costs about €14,000 [$24,768] a night and the hotel recently restored 13 of its top suites.' Hair and make-up, not just for the bride but for her guests, will also cost a bomb. Loading Pivato added: 'For George Clooney's wedding, 50 hairdressers came from Rome. We can estimate a cost of around €500,000 [$890,000].' The two possible wedding venues – the Fondazione Cini on the island of San Giorgio and the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice itself – are both large, meaning that they will need a wealth of flower arrangements and other decorations. Pivato said the overall bill for three different locations could easily reach $1.5 million. Between 35 and 50 sleek wooden water taxis have been hired out for the event. Mario Gasparini, a water taxi operator, told La Repubblica newspaper: 'The exact routes are being kept a secret. We will only discover who our passengers are and where we are taking them the day before the wedding service.' The lavish affair is expected to bring revenue to the city, with water taxi operators earning about $26,000 each over five days. Gasparini says the event should be embraced, adding: 'Most Venetians are not protesting – it is just the usual 150 communist extremists who are opposed to everything.' The wedding ceremony itself may be held in a complex of historic buildings known as the Fondazione Cini on the island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark's Square. Fireworks will light up the sky as the couple say their vows and exchange rings. Last week, activists climbed to the top of the bell tower on the island, let off coloured smoke bombs and unfurled a giant banner with a large red cross scrawled across the word 'Bezos'. They hung a similar banner from the Rialto Bridge. The protesters were from an umbrella group called No Space for Bezos, a slogan that plays on the billionaire's ownership of Blue Origin, the space rocket venture. In a statement, campaigners said: 'Venice is not for sale, it is not for rent, it should not be the backdrop for the wedding of one of the world's richest men. 'As Venetians, we are ready to defend the dignity of our city. Those who expect Venice to be docile and subservient, happy to gather the crumbs that fall from the king's table, will be disappointed. What we did today is just a taste of what is to come.' The protesters have threatened to hurl themselves into canals to impede the arrival of Mr Bezos and his bride-to-be at their wedding ceremony. Tommaso Cacciari, an activist from No Space for Bezos, said: 'To block their arrival peacefully, we will jump into the canals that surround the venue, and we will also block the alleyways that lead to it. 'Bezos is not just any VIP – he is a multibillionaire who supports the world view of Trump.' Loading He added that by choosing the World Heritage city as his wedding venue, the Amazon founder was 'confusing Venice with Las Vegas'. While the activists have commanded plenty of attention, they have been sharply criticised by other Venetians, who say the city should be honoured to host such a high-profile wedding. Simone Venturini, Venice's councillor in charge of tourism, said: 'I struggle to understand how a private event like this, which won't cause any kind of stress to the city, can be considered detrimental. 'Each year Venice hosts hundreds of events, of every type. Is it Venice's fault that it is the most beautiful city in the world? We should all be proud that the wedding of Jeff Bezos will be held in our lagoon.' He said the protests and banners had been organised by 'the usual' Left-wing activists who have campaigned in the past against giant cruise ships, mass tourism and the entrance fee for day trippers which was imposed last year. He also asked whether the spray canisters that the activists had used to create their banners 'were bought on Amazon'. The governor of Veneto, the region that includes Venice, also criticised the protests. Luca Zaia said that the banners strung from the bell tower on San Giorgio island and the Rialto Bridge sent an 'unacceptable' message to the world. Zaia told Corriere della Sera newspaper: 'The history of La Serenissima is cosmopolitan, a story of openness. We have warehouses that were built by Germans, by Turks, we have the oldest Jewish ghetto in the world. Our cuisine is influenced by spices that came from other parts of the world. Our history has never been about forbidding entry to anyone.' Loading The governor, a heavyweight in the conservative League party, said only around 200 guests have been invited to the wedding – a number that Venice can easily handle given that, during the busiest periods of the year, 150,000 tourists descend on the place each day. He added: 'What message are we sending? That Venice is not a welcoming city? That we are going to start squirting tourists with water pistols? Tourism is Venice's main business, it's worth €18 billion a year and we all benefit from it, even people who don't work in the sector.' The Bezos wedding will pump between $35 million and $50 million into Venice's economy, Zaia said. He conceded that there was a need for tourist numbers to be better managed as tourist hordes overwhelm an ever-dwindling population of residents. The city's population has dropped from 175,000 in 1950 to around 48,000. The governor said Venice had managed to host celebrity weddings in the past without much disruption, including that of George Clooney and British-Lebanese human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014. Unlike the impending Bezos wedding, the Clooney nuptials attracted barely a whiff of dissent among Venetians.
The Age
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Inside Jeff Bezos' ‘wedding of the century' in Venice
And there will be another seven vessels of various kinds to provide transport for guests, who are expected to include the British actor Orlando Bloom and his long-time fiancee Katy Perry, Mick Jagger, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Oprah Winfrey, Eva Longoria and Leonardo DiCaprio. Bezos' fellow tech titans Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are also expected at the multimillion-dollar shindig. As befits a man worth $US230 billion ($355 billion), Bezos has booked the most luxurious suites in Venice's finest hotels for his guests. They include the Aman, a five-star hotel on the banks of the Grand Canal that boasts private gardens and Rococo works of art, as well as the equally swanky Gritti Palace, the Danieli, the Marriott and the St Regis – where Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner will reportedly stay. Her father, Donald Trump, may even reportedly make an appearance at the wedding. A short distance away from the Grand Canal is the Belmond Cipriani on the island of Giudecca, which is expected to host Lady Gaga, who is rumoured to perform for the newlyweds. Loading Wedding celebrations and cocktail receptions will reportedly be held in Palazzo Pisani Moretta, a historic building in the heart of Venice, as well as the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a Renaissance building, and the Hotel Excelsior on the Lido, the slender island that separates the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic. The wedding is likely to cost around $25 million, according to one detailed breakdown. The sum includes up to $1.5 million for flowers and the decoration of the various venues, up to $4.5 million for wedding planners, $3 million for the hire of the venues, $1.5 million for the catering and $2.3 million for the bride's dresses. There will also be mooring fees for Bezos' superyachts and the cost of providing lavish gifts for the guests. Luxury hotel suites will make up around $3 million of the overall cost, according to Manuela Pivato, the founder of an online publication called MyFairVenice. She told D Donna, an Italian women's magazine: 'A suite at the Hotel Cipriani costs about €14,000 [$24,768] a night and the hotel recently restored 13 of its top suites.' Hair and make-up, not just for the bride but for her guests, will also cost a bomb. Loading Pivato added: 'For George Clooney's wedding, 50 hairdressers came from Rome. We can estimate a cost of around €500,000 [$890,000].' The two possible wedding venues – the Fondazione Cini on the island of San Giorgio and the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice itself – are both large, meaning that they will need a wealth of flower arrangements and other decorations. Pivato said the overall bill for three different locations could easily reach $1.5 million. Between 35 and 50 sleek wooden water taxis have been hired out for the event. Mario Gasparini, a water taxi operator, told La Repubblica newspaper: 'The exact routes are being kept a secret. We will only discover who our passengers are and where we are taking them the day before the wedding service.' The lavish affair is expected to bring revenue to the city, with water taxi operators earning about $26,000 each over five days. Gasparini says the event should be embraced, adding: 'Most Venetians are not protesting – it is just the usual 150 communist extremists who are opposed to everything.' The wedding ceremony itself may be held in a complex of historic buildings known as the Fondazione Cini on the island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark's Square. Fireworks will light up the sky as the couple say their vows and exchange rings. Last week, activists climbed to the top of the bell tower on the island, let off coloured smoke bombs and unfurled a giant banner with a large red cross scrawled across the word 'Bezos'. They hung a similar banner from the Rialto Bridge. The protesters were from an umbrella group called No Space for Bezos, a slogan that plays on the billionaire's ownership of Blue Origin, the space rocket venture. In a statement, campaigners said: 'Venice is not for sale, it is not for rent, it should not be the backdrop for the wedding of one of the world's richest men. 'As Venetians, we are ready to defend the dignity of our city. Those who expect Venice to be docile and subservient, happy to gather the crumbs that fall from the king's table, will be disappointed. What we did today is just a taste of what is to come.' The protesters have threatened to hurl themselves into canals to impede the arrival of Mr Bezos and his bride-to-be at their wedding ceremony. Tommaso Cacciari, an activist from No Space for Bezos, said: 'To block their arrival peacefully, we will jump into the canals that surround the venue, and we will also block the alleyways that lead to it. 'Bezos is not just any VIP – he is a multibillionaire who supports the world view of Trump.' Loading He added that by choosing the World Heritage city as his wedding venue, the Amazon founder was 'confusing Venice with Las Vegas'. While the activists have commanded plenty of attention, they have been sharply criticised by other Venetians, who say the city should be honoured to host such a high-profile wedding. Simone Venturini, Venice's councillor in charge of tourism, said: 'I struggle to understand how a private event like this, which won't cause any kind of stress to the city, can be considered detrimental. 'Each year Venice hosts hundreds of events, of every type. Is it Venice's fault that it is the most beautiful city in the world? We should all be proud that the wedding of Jeff Bezos will be held in our lagoon.' He said the protests and banners had been organised by 'the usual' Left-wing activists who have campaigned in the past against giant cruise ships, mass tourism and the entrance fee for day trippers which was imposed last year. He also asked whether the spray canisters that the activists had used to create their banners 'were bought on Amazon'. The governor of Veneto, the region that includes Venice, also criticised the protests. Luca Zaia said that the banners strung from the bell tower on San Giorgio island and the Rialto Bridge sent an 'unacceptable' message to the world. Zaia told Corriere della Sera newspaper: 'The history of La Serenissima is cosmopolitan, a story of openness. We have warehouses that were built by Germans, by Turks, we have the oldest Jewish ghetto in the world. Our cuisine is influenced by spices that came from other parts of the world. Our history has never been about forbidding entry to anyone.' Loading The governor, a heavyweight in the conservative League party, said only around 200 guests have been invited to the wedding – a number that Venice can easily handle given that, during the busiest periods of the year, 150,000 tourists descend on the place each day. He added: 'What message are we sending? That Venice is not a welcoming city? That we are going to start squirting tourists with water pistols? Tourism is Venice's main business, it's worth €18 billion a year and we all benefit from it, even people who don't work in the sector.' The Bezos wedding will pump between $35 million and $50 million into Venice's economy, Zaia said. He conceded that there was a need for tourist numbers to be better managed as tourist hordes overwhelm an ever-dwindling population of residents. The city's population has dropped from 175,000 in 1950 to around 48,000. The governor said Venice had managed to host celebrity weddings in the past without much disruption, including that of George Clooney and British-Lebanese human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014. Unlike the impending Bezos wedding, the Clooney nuptials attracted barely a whiff of dissent among Venetians.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Despite what Donald Trump says, factory work is overrated. Here are the jobs of the future
Even a heroic reshoring effort eliminating America's $US1.2 trillion (about $1.9 trillion) goods-trade deficit would do little for jobs. In the production of that amount of goods, about $US630 billion (about $973 billion) of value-added would come from manufacturing (with the rest from raw materials, transport and so on). Robert Lawrence of Harvard University estimates that, with each manufacturing worker generating $US230,000 (about $355,000) or so in value added, bringing back production to close the deficit would create around three million jobs, half on the factory floor. That would lift the share of the workforce in manufacturing production by barely a percentage point. Assume this was done by levying an average effective tariff rate of 20 per cent on America's $US3 trillion (about $4.6 trillion) of imports, and it could cost an extra $US600 billion (about $926 billion), or $US200,000 (about $308,000) per manufacturing job 'saved'. That is a high price for jobs that are not as attractive as in the past. Seven decades ago, factories offered a rare bundle: good pay, job security, union protection, plentiful employment and no degree requirement. By the 1980s manufacturing workers still earned 10 per cent more than comparable peers in other parts of the economy. Their productivity was also growing faster. Loading Today factory-floor work lags behind non-supervisory roles in services on hourly pay. Even if you control for age, gender, race and more, the manufacturing wage premium has collapsed. Using methods similar to the Department of Commerce and the Economic Policy Institute, we estimate by 2024 the premium had more than halved since the 1980s. For those without a college education, it has gone entirely, even though such workers still enjoy a premium in construction and transport. Productivity growth has fallen, too: output per industrial worker is now rising more slowly than per service-sector worker, suggesting wage growth will be weak as well. A crucial component of the 'manufacturing jobs are good jobs' argument no longer holds. A job in industry is also now harder to attain. Modern factories are high-tech, run by engineers and technicians. In the early 1980s blue-collar assemblers, machine operators and repair workers made up more than half of the manufacturing workforce. Today they account for less than a third. White-collar professionals outnumber blue-collar factory-floor workers by a wide margin. Even once obtained, a factory job is far less likely to be unionised than in previous decades, with membership having fallen from one in four workers in the 1980s to less than one in ten today. In order to find the modern equivalent of such jobs, we looked for employment with the same traits. What offers decent pay, unionisation, requires no degree and can soak up the male workforce? The result: mechanics, repair technicians, security workers and the skilled trades. Over seven million Americans work as carpenters, electricians, solar-panel installers and in other such trades; almost all are male and lack a degree. The median wage is a solid $US25 (about $39) an hour, unionisation is above average and demand is expected to rise as America upgrades its infrastructure. Another five million toil as repair and maintenance workers – think HVAC technicians and telecom installers – and mechanics, earning wages well above the factory-floor average. Emergency and security workers also show similarities; over a third are union members. An air-con capital of the world Still, these jobs differ from manufacturing in one important way: there is no such thing as an HVAC company town. Factories once powered whole cities, creating demand for suppliers, logistics and dive bars. The new jobs are more dispersed and, as such, less likely to prop up local economies. Yet although the benefits are more diffuse, they are almost as large. Nearly as many people are employed in such categories as held manufacturing jobs in the 1990s. With better wages, less credentialism and stronger unions, they may look more attractive than modern factory jobs to working-class Americans. Loading The future is drifting even further from factories. Skilled trades and repair workers should see growth of five per cent over the next decade, according to official projections; the number of manufacturing jobs is expected to fall. The fastest-growing categories for workers without degrees are in health-care support and personal care, which are expected to grow by 15 per cent and six per cent, respectively. These include roles such as nursing assistants and child-care workers, and do not look anything like old manufacturing jobs owing to their low pay. The task, as Dani Rodrik of Harvard puts it, is to boost the productivity of the jobs that are actually growing. Perhaps that might include ensuring the adoption of AI, whether for managing medication or diagnosis. In the late 18th century, Thomas Jefferson viewed farming as the foundation of a self-reliant republic. Influenced by French physiocrats who saw agriculture as the noblest source of national wealth, he believed that working the land was the path to liberty and abundance. By the 20th century, factory work had inherited that symbolic role. But like farming before it, manufacturing employment fades with rising prosperity and productivity. The heart of working-class America now beats elsewhere.
The Age
6 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Despite what Donald Trump says, factory work is overrated. Here are the jobs of the future
Even a heroic reshoring effort eliminating America's $US1.2 trillion (about $1.9 trillion) goods-trade deficit would do little for jobs. In the production of that amount of goods, about $US630 billion (about $973 billion) of value-added would come from manufacturing (with the rest from raw materials, transport and so on). Robert Lawrence of Harvard University estimates that, with each manufacturing worker generating $US230,000 (about $355,000) or so in value added, bringing back production to close the deficit would create around three million jobs, half on the factory floor. That would lift the share of the workforce in manufacturing production by barely a percentage point. Assume this was done by levying an average effective tariff rate of 20 per cent on America's $US3 trillion (about $4.6 trillion) of imports, and it could cost an extra $US600 billion (about $926 billion), or $US200,000 (about $308,000) per manufacturing job 'saved'. That is a high price for jobs that are not as attractive as in the past. Seven decades ago, factories offered a rare bundle: good pay, job security, union protection, plentiful employment and no degree requirement. By the 1980s manufacturing workers still earned 10 per cent more than comparable peers in other parts of the economy. Their productivity was also growing faster. Loading Today factory-floor work lags behind non-supervisory roles in services on hourly pay. Even if you control for age, gender, race and more, the manufacturing wage premium has collapsed. Using methods similar to the Department of Commerce and the Economic Policy Institute, we estimate by 2024 the premium had more than halved since the 1980s. For those without a college education, it has gone entirely, even though such workers still enjoy a premium in construction and transport. Productivity growth has fallen, too: output per industrial worker is now rising more slowly than per service-sector worker, suggesting wage growth will be weak as well. A crucial component of the 'manufacturing jobs are good jobs' argument no longer holds. A job in industry is also now harder to attain. Modern factories are high-tech, run by engineers and technicians. In the early 1980s blue-collar assemblers, machine operators and repair workers made up more than half of the manufacturing workforce. Today they account for less than a third. White-collar professionals outnumber blue-collar factory-floor workers by a wide margin. Even once obtained, a factory job is far less likely to be unionised than in previous decades, with membership having fallen from one in four workers in the 1980s to less than one in ten today. In order to find the modern equivalent of such jobs, we looked for employment with the same traits. What offers decent pay, unionisation, requires no degree and can soak up the male workforce? The result: mechanics, repair technicians, security workers and the skilled trades. Over seven million Americans work as carpenters, electricians, solar-panel installers and in other such trades; almost all are male and lack a degree. The median wage is a solid $US25 (about $39) an hour, unionisation is above average and demand is expected to rise as America upgrades its infrastructure. Another five million toil as repair and maintenance workers – think HVAC technicians and telecom installers – and mechanics, earning wages well above the factory-floor average. Emergency and security workers also show similarities; over a third are union members. An air-con capital of the world Still, these jobs differ from manufacturing in one important way: there is no such thing as an HVAC company town. Factories once powered whole cities, creating demand for suppliers, logistics and dive bars. The new jobs are more dispersed and, as such, less likely to prop up local economies. Yet although the benefits are more diffuse, they are almost as large. Nearly as many people are employed in such categories as held manufacturing jobs in the 1990s. With better wages, less credentialism and stronger unions, they may look more attractive than modern factory jobs to working-class Americans. Loading The future is drifting even further from factories. Skilled trades and repair workers should see growth of five per cent over the next decade, according to official projections; the number of manufacturing jobs is expected to fall. The fastest-growing categories for workers without degrees are in health-care support and personal care, which are expected to grow by 15 per cent and six per cent, respectively. These include roles such as nursing assistants and child-care workers, and do not look anything like old manufacturing jobs owing to their low pay. The task, as Dani Rodrik of Harvard puts it, is to boost the productivity of the jobs that are actually growing. Perhaps that might include ensuring the adoption of AI, whether for managing medication or diagnosis. In the late 18th century, Thomas Jefferson viewed farming as the foundation of a self-reliant republic. Influenced by French physiocrats who saw agriculture as the noblest source of national wealth, he believed that working the land was the path to liberty and abundance. By the 20th century, factory work had inherited that symbolic role. But like farming before it, manufacturing employment fades with rising prosperity and productivity. The heart of working-class America now beats elsewhere.
Sydney Morning Herald
05-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
They were meant for each other, but Trump and Musk were always going to blow up like a SpaceX rocket
Elon Musk exploded like a SpaceX rocket. The debris rained down across Washington. Everyone has been awaiting the breakup of the most public bromance between the most powerful man in the world and the richest man in the world. What could go wrong? Too much power and too much ego. President Donald Trump has exerted executive authority to rule by command. And no one has seen anything like Musk's wealth. Will Musk become the world's first trillionaire – before any landing on Mars? What he gave to Trump's campaign was obscene, over $US230 million ($353 million) – more than enough to help Trump finance winning a second term. Trump is cunning as hell. He had his blueprint for what he would do from the moment he was inaugurated president to dominate and control the executive branch of the government: Project 2025. As Carlos Lozada wrote, what is so compelling is 'how far the authors are willing to go in pursuit of that agenda and how reckless their assumptions are about law, power and public service'. Cabinet secretaries and senior officials were to march into their departments and ensure that all the woke culture values of the radical left extremist Marxist monsters were eradicated. Anything having to do with promoting women and people of colour was suspect. Anything honoured in historical reference – such as Black soldiers and airmen who were heroes in World War II – was to be expunged. Anything trans was to be exterminated. The Department of Education and US foreign aid programs were cancelled. Everyone coming into the country was to be scrutinised, down to their social media history. There would be a slashing of programs and government employees. Loading The shocker was bringing in Musk to turbocharge Project 2025. What was unprecedented was the ability of a private citizen to seize control and decapitate the leadership of government agencies, scrub spending and cancel contracts, all while ordering the remaining employees to tell Musk, if they wanted to keep their jobs, what they had done over the past five days. By bringing in one of the most formidable wielders of digital technology in the universe, Musk and the 'department of government efficiency' had access to the databases of virtually all the government – even the most sensitive servers in the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration. DOGE was looking for 'waste, fraud and abuse', but they were also able to see the personal e-files of tens of millions of users and recipients in the systems. Why did it have to end this badly? In his formal farewell to Musk, Trump consistently praised Musk for his dedication to the task, notwithstanding the risk to his businesses from his enforced absences. Musk was 'tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations'.
