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New York Times
30-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump-Era Pivot on Seabed Mining Draws Global Rebuke
Nearly 40 nations, big and small, have voiced opposition to a plan by a Wall Street-backed mining company to team up with the Trump administration to circumvent international law and start seabed mining in the Pacific Ocean with a U.S. permit. The widespread furor reflected a rare alignment from countries as varied as China, Russia, India, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Indonesia, France, Argentina, Uganda and the small island nations of Mauritius and Fiji. The plan also brought to the fore a pitched clash over who regulates seabed mining in international waters. The pushback emerged after The Metals Company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, disclosed on Thursday that it would ask the Trump administration through a United States subsidiary to grant it approval for mining in international waters. Under an international treaty, the International Seabed Authority has jurisdiction over any mining on the so-called high seas. 'Any unilateral action would constitute a violation of international law and directly undermine the fundamental principles of multilateralism, the peaceful use of the oceans and the collective governance framework,' Leticia Carvalho, the secretary general of the seabed authority, said in a statement released Friday. Diplomats backed up Ms. Carvalho, arguing that the surprise proposal threatened a global effort to share in the wealth from any metals buried on the seabed floor, which are expected to be used to build electric car batteries and other industrial products. 'It is the Authority that has the exclusive mandate to regulate the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources in the area,' said Carl Grainger, Ireland's representative. The Metals Company turned to the Trump administration after growing increasingly frustrated with how long it has taken the Seabed Authority to complete environmental and financial regulations that will govern seabed mining. The agency has said that those standards are needed before issuing its first commercial mining permit. Gerard Barron, the company's chairman, said that he wanted to start mining in international waters as soon as 2027 and that he was convinced the United States had the legal right to issue a permit on its own. 'The freedom to mine the deep seabed, like the freedom of navigation, is a high seas freedom enjoyed by all nations,' Mr. Barron said. The Trump administration's Commerce Department, in a statement to The New York Times late Friday, confirmed that it disagreed with the Seabed Authority's interpretation of international law. 'Companies can apply for exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits for deep-sea mining in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction,' Maureen O'Leary, a department spokeswoman said, citing a 1980 federal law, the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. It has never previously been used to authorize industrial-scale ocean mining. Ms. O'Leary added that the U.S. subsidiary of The Metals Company had started consulting with the Commerce Department over deep-sea mining plans. 'The process ensures a thorough environmental impact review, interagency consultations and opportunity for public comment,' Ms. O'Leary said, suggesting that the permit approval would not be automatic. Each nation already controls its own coastal areas, which are considered to reach about 200 nautical miles from the shore, and certain countries such as Japan, Norway and the Cook Islands have recently considered allowing seabed mining in these national areas. But the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which went into effect in 1994, established the International Seabed Authority and granted it the power to decide when and where seabed mining can take place in international waters, which cover nearly half the world's surface. In the decades since, more than two dozen contracts have been granted by the agency for exploratory work, extracting small quantities of seabed rocks from the ocean floor, including to the Metals Company, which teamed up with the small island nations of Nauru and Tonga. The company's contract sites are about 1,000 miles off the coast of Mexico, where the ocean is about 2.5 miles deep, in a region known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. There the seabed floor is sprinkled with potato-size rocks that have large quantities of nickel, manganese, copper, zinc, cobalt and other minerals. The Metals Company has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars doing exploratory work. But it has become clear that the rules will not be ready for at least several more years, and the company is running low on cash and even available borrowing authority. 'We believe we have sufficient knowledge to get started and prove we can manage environmental risks,' Mr. Barron said, adding that the company planned to ask the United States to approve mining in these same areas. The Law of the Sea has been ratified by more than 165 nations, but one major exception is the United States. Dating back to the Reagan administration, there were concerns related to seabed mining provisions and how they might limit mining by American companies. But the United States successfully negotiated changes to the treaty in the 1990s to try to address these concerns. In the decades since, the State Department has sent representatives to meetings at the Seabed Authority's headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, creating the impression that the United States intends to honor the terms of the treaty, even though the Senate never formally ratified it. President Trump has already shown a willingness to challenge international norms. He has proposed that the United States take over Greenland or even Canada to increase access to critical minerals needed to fuel manufacturing in the United States, and perhaps even the Panama Canal to more cheaply move American manufactured goods. The Metals Company executives have confidentially been meeting with Trump White House and Commerce Department officials to prepare this plan. Mr. Barron, in an interview and statement he prepared for The Times, said he believed that the Seabed Authority has been constrained by environmental groups like Greenpeace. Such organizations, he said, 'see deep-sea mining industry as their 'last green trophy' and have worked tirelessly to continuously delay the adoption of the exploitation regulations with the explicit intent of killing commercial industry.' He also argued that the authority's delay in finishing the seabed mining rules had violated the terms of the international agreement. Such arguments have not been well received by the Seabed Authority and its member states: More than 30 nations have argued that there still is not enough evidence that seabed mining can take place without causing unacceptable harm to the environment. Even nations like China, India, Poland and Norway — which have been more supportive of moving more quickly to start industrial-scale mining in international waters — have joined to object to the proposal by The Metals Company. A license granted by the Trump administration to The Metals Company could give the company a head start on these nations, potentially flooding the marketplace with metals like nickel and copper and undermining plans by these other nations to mine the ocean on their own. 'At this critical moment in history, it is more important for us to be united in continuing to demonstrate the effectiveness and vitality of the seabed regime,' a Chinese government official said in a statement read at a Seabed Authority meeting on Friday.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Freelancers Are Getting Ruined by AI
At one time, freelancing was seen as the domain of plucky young writers and daring web designers. Now, it's a growing fact of life for billions of workers around the world, as companies break up full-time positions into contract work with less stability and protection by labor laws. That was already becoming the case back in 2009, when the fallout of the Great Recession forced thousands of out-of-work professionals to become freelancers to pay the bills. Jump ahead to 2024, when over 76 million Americans were said to be freelance workers, up from 64 million in 2023. That's over 36 percent of the workforce, a number that's expected to grow to over 50 percent by 2028, primarily driven by cost-cutting hiring practices. Though Wall Street-backed think tanks and Fortune 500 companies laud freelance as the "future of work," labor experts warn that self-employment is a dangerous precedent that allows companies to shirk labor laws and keep worker benefits at a minimum. While rosy think pieces would have you believe workers and employers alike prefer these types of "flexible" arrangements, they are increasingly becoming the only choice for many who would prefer full-time work, to the benefit of a select few. Involuntary freelance is hard enough. But a recent study by researchers at Washington University and NYU's Stern School of Business highlights a new hardship facing freelancers: the proliferation of artificial intelligence. Though the official spin has been that AI will automate "unskilled," repetitive jobs so humans can explore more thoughtful work, that's not shaping up to be the case. The research finds that "for every 1 percent increase in a freelancer's past earnings, they experience an additional .5 percent drop in job opportunities and a 1.7 percent decrease in monthly income following the introduction of AI technologies." In short: if today's AI is any indication, tomorrow's AI is going to flatten just as many high-skilled jobs as it will low-skilled. It's compelling evidence that big tech's endless push toward an AI-powered future will continue to be a one-way street in our current labor environment. Though AI is far from offering the kind of liberation tech moguls have been promising for years, it's nonetheless already being used to siphon money away from workers for the profit of those who own the companies. The research hammers home the fact that AI isn't a cure-all for the problems with today's job market, and that anyone who tells you otherwise is either duped by big tech's enormous promises, or was in on the game from the start. Whether freelance or full time, control of AI will ultimately fall to those who rule the current labor environment — but it doesn't have to. A handful of well-organized unions are pushing back against this grim future, asserting their right to quality work in the face of the enshittification of labor. In October of last year, for example, a militant dockworker strike delayed the automation of America's ports, a development which would have destroyed thousands of well-paying jobs. Earlier in April, hundreds of members of the California Nurses Association successfully stopped slapdash AI tech from being rushed out by hospital administration. At Boston University, striking graduate students and faculty with the Service Employees International Union Local 509 forced the administration to backtrack after suggesting AI could do the instructors' work while they organized for better working conditions. It's not all going to be easy, especially for contract and freelance workers. But it's clear that the AI dystopia is already upon us, actively making conditions worse for workers right now. The only question left is, what will we do about it? More on AI and labor: Y Combinator Pulls Support for AI Startup After Video of Boss Barking at Human Worker, Calling Him "Number 17"
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Freelancers Are Getting Ruined by AI
At one time, freelancing was seen as the domain of plucky young writers and daring web designers. Now, it's a growing fact of life for billions of workers around the world, as companies break up full-time positions into contract work with less stability and protection by labor laws. That was already becoming the case back in 2009, when the fallout of the Great Recession forced thousands of out-of-work professionals to become freelancers to pay the bills. Jump ahead to 2024, when over 76 million Americans were said to be freelance workers, up from 64 million in 2023. That's over 36 percent of the workforce, a number that's expected to grow to over 50 percent by 2028, primarily driven by cost-cutting hiring practices. Though Wall Street-backed think tanks and Fortune 500 companies laud freelance as the "future of work," labor experts warn that self-employment is a dangerous precedent that allows companies to shirk labor laws and keep worker benefits at a minimum. While rosy think pieces would have you believe workers and employers alike prefer these types of "flexible" arrangements, they are increasingly becoming the only choice for many who would prefer full-time work, to the benefit of a select few. Involuntary freelance is hard enough. But a recent study by researchers at Washington University and NYU's Stern School of Business highlights a new hardship facing freelancers: the proliferation of artificial intelligence. Though the official spin has been that AI will automate "unskilled," repetitive jobs so humans can explore more thoughtful work, that's not shaping up to be the case. The research finds that "for every 1 percent increase in a freelancer's past earnings, they experience an additional .5 percent drop in job opportunities and a 1.7 percent decrease in monthly income following the introduction of AI technologies." In short: if today's AI is any indication, tomorrow's AI is going to flatten just as many high-skilled jobs as it will low-skilled. It's compelling evidence that big tech's endless push toward an AI-powered future will continue to be a one-way street in our current labor environment. Though AI is far from offering the kind of liberation tech moguls have been promising for years, it's nonetheless already being used to siphon money away from workers for the profit of those who own the companies. The research hammers home the fact that AI isn't a cure-all for the problems with today's job market, and that anyone who tells you otherwise is either duped by big tech's enormous promises, or was in on the game from the start. Whether freelance or full time, control of AI will ultimately fall to those who rule the current labor environment — but it doesn't have to. A handful of well-organized unions are pushing back against this grim future, asserting their right to quality work in the face of the enshittification of labor. In October of last year, for example, a militant dockworker strike delayed the automation of America's ports, a development which would have destroyed thousands of well-paying jobs. Earlier in April, hundreds of members of the California Nurses Association successfully stopped slapdash AI tech from being rushed out by hospital administration. At Boston University, striking graduate students and faculty with the Service Employees International Union Local 509 forced the administration to backtrack after suggesting AI could do the instructors' work while they organized for better working conditions. It's not all going to be easy, especially for contract and freelance workers. But it's clear that the AI dystopia is already upon us, actively making conditions worse for workers right now. The only question left is, what will we do about it? More on AI and labor: Y Combinator Pulls Support for AI Startup After Video of Boss Barking at Human Worker, Calling Him "Number 17"
New York Times
25-02-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Is Andrew Cuomo on the Verge of Announcing a Run for Mayor?
Three years after resigning the governorship in a cloud of scandal, Andrew M. Cuomo is making final preparations to run for mayor of New York City and could announce his candidacy as soon as this weekend, according to four people familiar with the planning. Publicly, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, continues to guard his intentions closely, avoiding media interviews and unscripted public events. He has been conspicuously silent on the scandal engulfing his potential opponent, Mayor Eric Adams. But behind the scenes, the former governor has taken increasingly assertive steps to line up a long-anticipated comeback attempt that would instantly reshape the race to unseat Mr. Adams in June's Democratic primary. Wealthy donors have committed to host fund-raisers at Manhattan apartments as soon as next Tuesday. Mr. Cuomo has personally begun prodding additional Democrats to publicly back him — including the Queens borough president, Donovan Richards, and the Manhattan party chairman, Keith L.T. Wright — as he tries to extend a rollout of high-profile endorsements that began with one from his former rival, H. Carl McCall. And he is expected to tap the political director of the New York City carpenters union to take on a senior campaign role. The moves reflect a growing confidence among Mr. Cuomo and his allies that they have a clear path to City Hall. Elected officials, labor bosses and business leaders who have spoken to him said Mr. Cuomo has framed a potential candidacy as an opportunity to 'save' New York City from four years of scandal, unease about public safety and an emboldened President Trump. Like other people familiar with his plans, many requested anonymity to detail private conversations with Mr. Cuomo. 'I have no doubt that he is going to run,' Kathryn Wylde, the chief of the Wall Street-backed Partnership for New York City, said after a recent sit-down with Mr. Cuomo. 'Many in the business community feel that he is the person who can best manage the city and the relationship with President Trump,' she added. People involved in the potential Cuomo campaign have told associates that they are trying to line up a public launch in early March, most likely involving a scripted video. But those who have known Mr. Cuomo for decades cautioned that it was still possible he would decide not to run. Like his father, who famously left two planes idling on an Albany tarmac as he waffled over a run for president, Mr. Cuomo has never been quick to reach decisions about his political future. Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, declined to comment on the former governor's intentions. Those who have spoken with him in recent days, though, came away with the impression that Mr. Cuomo's delay in entering the mayor's race had more to do with strategy than indecision. By waiting, Mr. Cuomo has shortened the window before the June 24 primary for his prospective opponents to build a case against him and for news media to scrutinize his record. Mr. Cuomo, 67, could face attacks for a long list of past alleged transgressions, including accusations that he sexually harassed several state employees and covered up the number of Covid-related nursing home deaths. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and spent years fighting in court and the public sphere to clear his name, notching some victories along the way. While polls show Mr. Cuomo leading Mr. Adams and a field of seven other Democratic rivals, it remains to be seen whether New York City voters are willing to replace one scandal-plagued Democrat in City Hall with another. A pollster working for an anti-Cuomo group, United for a Brighter Tomorrow, argued in an opinion essay that Mr. Cuomo's support could quickly erode once voters were reminded of his record. Mr. Cuomo's opponents have not waited to attack him. One of them, State Senator Zellnor Myrie, recently launched a website counting the days since Mr. Cuomo had spoken publicly about Mr. Adams or Mr. Trump. 'In the past 35 days, when the city has seen funding for hospitals, schools and senior centers threatened; when our literal sovereignty has been in question,' Mr. Myrie said, 'he has said nothing.' A representative for Mr. Adams, who maintains that he can still win a second term, declined to comment. Mr. Cuomo is relying on a tight circle of longtime advisers, including three who once served as his top aide in Albany. Steven M. Cohen has taken the lead putting together a super PAC to support Mr. Cuomo's candidacy if he runs. William J. Mulrow is expected to serve in a senior role, such as campaign chairman. And Melissa DeRosa is said to be effectively running the campaign. Mr. Cuomo is poised to bring on additional help, too. Kevin Elkins, the political director for the New York City carpenters union, has been in discussions to take on a senior role with the campaign, according to two people familiar with the matter. They cautioned personnel decisions had yet to be finalized, but Mr. Elkins's involvement has been viewed as a sign that the influential labor group could back Mr. Cuomo. Mr. Elkins did not reply to request for comment. Mr. Cuomo, a prolific fund-raiser as governor, appears to be calling on old supporters for financial backing. Charles Myers, the chairman of Signum Global Advisors and a prominent Democratic donor, is scheduled to host an event for Mr. Cuomo on March 4 at his Upper East Side apartment, according to an invitation obtained by The New York Times and first reported by Politico. The invitation does not explicitly call the event a fund-raiser, and Mr. Myers did not respond to requests for comment. But it treats Mr. Cuomo as a likely candidate. Other donors said they were waiting to circulate invites until Mr. Cuomo entered the race. 'More than ever, NYC needs effective, fearless leadership to defend our city and those critical values,' Mr. Myers wrote in the invitation. In the meantime, the former governor has been packing his schedule with breakfasts, lunches and calls with elected officials, many of whom represent key blocks of Jewish, Black and Latino voters. He won the endorsement on Monday of Representative Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat considering a 2026 run for governor. Several other lawmakers who have spoken with Mr. Cuomo said it was clear he was fishing for their support, even if he did not outright ask for an endorsement. 'He told me he is considering running for mayor,' said Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the chairwoman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party who is among the mayor's strongest allies. 'And that he would like to continue working with me.' Others came away with the impression Mr. Cuomo was closer to an announcement. 'If you ask me, it sounds like he's all the way in,' Assemblyman Brian Cunningham of Brooklyn said after a recent call from Mr. Cuomo. Mr. Richards, the Queens borough president, and Mr. Wright, the Manhattan Democratic leader, have not stated their intentions. Both declined to comment further. Mr. Cuomo and his allies appear to be trying to reach another important player in the race: Gov. Kathy Hochul. Ms. Hochul was once Mr. Cuomo's lieutenant governor and succeeded him as governor. The two have made little secret of their mutual distrust. Recently, intermediaries for Mr. Cuomo have tried set up a conversation with Ms. Hochul to smooth over tensions between them, according to two people familiar with the outreach who were not authorized to discuss it. One of them said allies of Mr. Cuomo seemed interested in a nonaggression pact. A spokesman for Ms. Hochul declined to comment. Mr. Azzopardi disputed that characterization. 'There was no reference of a 'pact,'' he said. 'If Governor Cuomo wants to speak to Governor Hochul, he will call her. And if Governor Hochul wants to speak to Governor Cuomo, she can call him.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New bill would crack down on corporations buying Florida homes
A bill filed in the Florida House of Representatives Wednesday could make it more difficult for Wall Street-backed landlords to buy homes in the Sunshine State. 'When you have corporations buying up single family homes meant to be residential, it takes away from the supply and therefore has an impact on cost,' said Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, the representative who introduced HB401. A first of its kind analysis from the Tampa Bay Times found that large corporations own more than 117,000 single family homes across Florida, including around 27,000 in the Tampa Bay area. Proponents of the growing single family rental industry say it's creating more options for those who can't afford to buy. But the Times found these landlords neglected ongoing maintenance issues, evicted tenants at higher rates and accelerated gentrification in Black neighborhoods. Disproportionate concentration of ownership among a handful of companies is linked by researchers to rising rent and sales costs, and experts said the companies' tactics can shut out individuals buyers in the housing market. Jacques said the Times reporting confirmed what he was hearing on the ground from constituents and helped inspire the bill, also known as the Strengthening Homeownership Act. It would help distinguish between traditional owner-occupied single family homes and rental homes owned by corporations. These rentals would be categorized as 'single family hybrid' housing. Local governments would have the power to prohibit them in certain neighborhoods through zoning rules. There's also some language to protect mom and pop landlords, who Jacques said are not the target of this bill. If an owner has three or fewer properties in the same county, their homes will be considered 'single family' instead of 'single family hybrid.' Legislation filed in Congress and other states have sought to place an outright ban on corporate owned rentals that would force certain companies to sell off their assets. Jacques said he opted to leverage existing land use rules to make the policy more appealing to his colleagues who might be hesitant to intervene in the free market. He added that this also gives local governments a choice in how to proceed rather than forcing a top-down mandate. 'This will not be micromanaged by Tallahassee,' he said. In other states, governments have attempted capping property ownership at a certain number of homes, or taxing companies that own more than a given amount. Mad Bankson, housing research coordinator for the Private Equity Stakeholders Project, said the use of zoning law was a creative way to address Florida's corporate concentration trend. 'Because this is such new territory and has become a problem relatively quickly, that's something we really like to see,' Bankson said. But it could also make the law more 'legally vulnerable,' to challenges, Bankson said. Municipalities will also have to establish their own guidelines and how they would be enforced. Lei Wedge, a professor of finance at the University of South Florida Muma College of Business, noted the bill wouldn't have much impact on corporate-owned rentals already in existence. 'This new bill they're trying to introduce will only affect when a land developer develops this land, whether land is primarily for single-family use, or could be multi-family use,' Wedge said. 'It's not going to change anything (about) the current situation.' Wedge said outright restrictions on corporate buying would be more effective. 'If you want to stop it, you need to stop them from buying the homes — instead of the land use," she said. The National Rental Home Council, a trade group representing some of the largest companies operating single-family rentals, contends its members play a crucial role amid growing housing demand in a market with ballooning population. In an interview with the Times last year, CEO David Howard said he's seen ownership of single-family rentals shift from smaller local landlords as large firms moved in, but that trend hasn't made it harder to buy a home or hurt renters. 'This bill seems to be nothing more than a blatant attempt to prevent renters from having the right to live in certain communities, and I think that can be very problematic,' Howard said in an email to the Times. 'Why would it ever make sense for the state to reduce the range of housing opportunities available for families in Florida? We need more choice in housing not less.' Howard said companies have provided rental opportunities in both existing homes and new builds sprouting across the region.
