1
00:00:07,133 --> 00:00:10,453
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast

2
00:00:10,573 --> 00:00:11,733
Speaker 1: from News Talks at b.

3
00:00:12,813 --> 00:00:16,693
Speaker 2: Eighty two million dollars as we go to here this morning.

4
00:00:16,733 --> 00:00:19,413
Speaker 2: That is a rough estimate for the amount of cash

5
00:00:19,493 --> 00:00:23,213
Speaker 2: that's going up in smoke as Jeff Bezos marries his

6
00:00:23,453 --> 00:00:28,453
Speaker 2: bride at a star studded Venetian affair. Eighty two million,

7
00:00:28,613 --> 00:00:34,293
Speaker 2: eighty two thousand, thousand, and I thought my wedding was

8
00:00:34,333 --> 00:00:38,853
Speaker 2: an expensive affair. Everything's relative, of course, everything's relative. I mean,

9
00:00:38,893 --> 00:00:41,693
Speaker 2: eighty two million dollars represents just a fraction of the

10
00:00:41,773 --> 00:00:45,653
Speaker 2: total wealth of the world's third richest man. So to

11
00:00:45,693 --> 00:00:50,293
Speaker 2: try and appreciate the true magnitude of his three hundred

12
00:00:50,373 --> 00:00:54,653
Speaker 2: billion dollar estimated wealth, I put Jeff Bezos's finances into

13
00:00:54,653 --> 00:00:56,813
Speaker 2: a scale that I can better understand. So get this,

14
00:00:57,693 --> 00:01:02,453
Speaker 2: If every Jeff Bezos dollar was one second, okay, so

15
00:01:02,813 --> 00:01:06,933
Speaker 2: one dollar, two dollar, three dollars, four dollars, so that

16
00:01:07,013 --> 00:01:09,813
Speaker 2: you know, one minute is sixty dollars and one hour

17
00:01:09,973 --> 00:01:14,813
Speaker 2: is what's three thousand, six hundred dollars, Depleting Jeff Bezos's

18
00:01:14,853 --> 00:01:21,493
Speaker 2: wealth would take more than eleven thousand years. It would

19
00:01:21,533 --> 00:01:24,533
Speaker 2: be the year thirteen thousand that we finally got to

20
00:01:24,573 --> 00:01:27,733
Speaker 2: the end of things. Now, look, you're gonna maybe think

21
00:01:27,773 --> 00:01:31,093
Speaker 2: that I have a particular thing for Jeff Beess, I

22
00:01:31,133 --> 00:01:34,333
Speaker 2: honestly don't. It's nothing personal. You know, I was one

23
00:01:34,373 --> 00:01:37,413
Speaker 2: of those who was bagging his fiance's spaceflight a few

24
00:01:37,413 --> 00:01:39,933
Speaker 2: weeks ago, But I swear it is nothing personal. It

25
00:01:39,973 --> 00:01:44,613
Speaker 2: would I would just be so. I would be so

26
00:01:44,973 --> 00:01:49,653
Speaker 2: embarrassed to be spending that much money to get married

27
00:01:49,693 --> 00:01:53,093
Speaker 2: in a place where it would appear a reasonable number

28
00:01:53,093 --> 00:01:57,813
Speaker 2: of locals don't want me. Yeah, it's funny. I've spent

29
00:01:58,093 --> 00:02:00,813
Speaker 2: like enough time in news and in media to know

30
00:02:00,933 --> 00:02:05,933
Speaker 2: that it's hard to properly gauge these things from the outside. Right, So,

31
00:02:06,373 --> 00:02:08,933
Speaker 2: protesters say that Jeff Bezos has bought half of their

32
00:02:08,973 --> 00:02:12,413
Speaker 2: city in that his bash is an obscene example of

33
00:02:12,493 --> 00:02:16,093
Speaker 2: money trumping every other concern. But the local maya says,

34
00:02:16,413 --> 00:02:19,773
Speaker 2: anyone blocking up the canals in protest or hanging out

35
00:02:19,813 --> 00:02:24,213
Speaker 2: with banners and signs represents just a tiny, tiny minority

36
00:02:24,253 --> 00:02:27,933
Speaker 2: of Venetians, and actually the vast majority of locals are

37
00:02:27,973 --> 00:02:30,813
Speaker 2: happy to welcome Jeff Bezos, his big Bucks and his

38
00:02:30,933 --> 00:02:39,053
Speaker 2: Blockbuster mates. Consumption in these European hotspots is clearly becoming

39
00:02:39,173 --> 00:02:42,213
Speaker 2: a greater saw point for those people who call these

40
00:02:42,213 --> 00:02:46,453
Speaker 2: spots home. The backlash to the Bezos wedding recalls the

41
00:02:46,493 --> 00:02:50,413
Speaker 2: protesters in Barcelona have been going around and squirting visitors

42
00:02:50,413 --> 00:02:53,573
Speaker 2: with water guns to protest the impact of over tourism

43
00:02:53,613 --> 00:02:56,693
Speaker 2: on housing and infrastructure in the city, whether it's Italy

44
00:02:56,973 --> 00:03:02,773
Speaker 2: or Spain or Portugal. Qualities that made coastal European cities

45
00:03:02,813 --> 00:03:06,413
Speaker 2: so romantic and so alluring in the first place, I

46
00:03:06,493 --> 00:03:11,973
Speaker 2: flee kind of destroying them in the Airbnb, cheap flights

47
00:03:12,013 --> 00:03:17,693
Speaker 2: and mass tourism age. Would you still go? I can

48
00:03:17,733 --> 00:03:22,213
Speaker 2: confess to having visited both Venice and Barcelona during backpacking

49
00:03:22,253 --> 00:03:25,573
Speaker 2: trips I don't know, fifteen odd years ago, but I'm

50
00:03:25,693 --> 00:03:31,213
Speaker 2: not sure I would return anytime soon, at least increasingly

51
00:03:31,253 --> 00:03:35,093
Speaker 2: as I travel. I don't know. I'm just I'm kind

52
00:03:35,093 --> 00:03:38,533
Speaker 2: of It's more, I'm not just put off. I'm kind

53
00:03:38,613 --> 00:03:43,733
Speaker 2: of repulsed by the crowds at the absolute hottest spots,

54
00:03:44,173 --> 00:03:46,853
Speaker 2: and I'm aware that, like a driver complaining about a

55
00:03:46,893 --> 00:03:50,293
Speaker 2: traffic jam, I'm very much part of the problem. The

56
00:03:50,333 --> 00:03:54,253
Speaker 2: mirror of Venice, who has so staunchly defended the Jeff

57
00:03:54,293 --> 00:03:59,013
Speaker 2: Bezos wedding, says he's embarrassed by the protests. The wedding

58
00:03:59,173 --> 00:04:01,973
Speaker 2: is a great source of much needed revenue for the city,

59
00:04:02,013 --> 00:04:04,653
Speaker 2: he said, and Italy's tourism ministry put out a report

60
00:04:04,893 --> 00:04:07,733
Speaker 2: suggesting that it could provide the city of tourism boost

61
00:04:08,293 --> 00:04:11,053
Speaker 2: of more than a billion dollars. It's a great way

62
00:04:11,093 --> 00:04:14,613
Speaker 2: to put Venice on the map. The thing is, I

63
00:04:14,693 --> 00:04:17,653
Speaker 2: really don't think Venice needs to be put on the map.

64
00:04:18,973 --> 00:04:22,133
Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe I'm wired differently, but watching the

65
00:04:22,173 --> 00:04:26,333
Speaker 2: scenes in Venice, as if anything, made me less likely

66
00:04:26,613 --> 00:04:27,093
Speaker 2: to go.

67
00:04:27,053 --> 00:04:30,733
Speaker 1: Back for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen

68
00:04:30,813 --> 00:04:33,933
Speaker 1: live to News Talks' b from nine Am, saturday or

69
00:04:34,013 --> 00:04:35,853
Speaker 1: follow the podcast On. iHeartRadio