• Trump has intensified his verbal attacks on Biden's "vile" student loan forgiveness policies.
• The Supreme Court ruling striking down the Chevron doctrine weakened the Department of Education.
• If re-elected, Trump could slash forgiveness, close the Ed Dept, and send student loans to the private sector.

Donald Trump has long regarded the student loan forgiveness measures rolled out under the Biden administration as a stunt to garner "publicity for the election." Still, if he's elected again, Trump is poised to do more than just roll the measures back.

At a campaign event in late June, Trump called Biden-era student debt relief measures "vile," suggesting that student loan borrowers shouldn't count on forgiveness under a second Trump administration. He has also repeatedly praised the Supreme Court's June 2023 decision to strike down Biden's "unfair" effort to cancel up to $400 billion in student loans — which would have forgiven up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients and as much as $10,000 for borrowers who make under $125,000 a year.

Though he doesn't have much in the way of an official policy plan for a second term, one specific pledge Trump makes on his campaign website is to "close the Department of Education in Washington, DC and to send all education work and needs back to the States."

The move is straight out of the Project 2025 playbook, a road map for the next presidency created by conservative activists to "bring quick relief to Americans suffering from the Left's devastating policies."

In particular, Project 2025 — which Trump has publicly distanced himself from in recent remarks, indicating "some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal," though he continues to echo their policy suggestions — takes aim at some Title IX protections and seeks to roll back some equity-focused policies based on preventing discrimination based on race and gender identity.

Eliminating the Department of Education and its "woke-dominated system of public schools" is high on the list of Project 2025's priorities for the first 180 days of the next conservative administration — meaning Trump, if he's elected.

"That type of deconstruction of the US Department of Education entirely would create quite a bit of chaos," Jan Miller, a student loan consultant with more than 25 years of experience in the financial industry, told Business Insider.

Defunding the Education Department

The Department of Education runs the federal Pell Grant system for low-income students and the federal work-study program. It also facilitates the service of federal education grants and loans and their repayment and forgiveness programs.

While it would require Republican control of both the House and Senate for Trump to close the Education Department completely, doing so would mean access to educational funding and resources would be limited depending on what state a student resides in, student financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz told BI.

Even if Trump doesn't manage to close the Education Department, he could still restrict its resources and slow hiring, causing delays in processing loans and grant applications. He could also cut back programs like federal work study, which provides part-time jobs for students who demonstrate financial need to help them pay for school.

"It would clearly be chaos if they actually succeed in doing it, and it wouldn't necessarily save the government money unless they cut out things wholesale," Kantrowitz said.

A recent Supreme Court ruling striking down the Chevron doctrine has already weakened the Education Department. The ruling struck down 40 years of precedent that required courts to defer to agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes.

Betsy Mayotte, the president and founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, told BI that the ruling could mean the Education Department becomes involved in legal challenges to its regulatory language, forcing it to devote more resources to those battles.

"Depending on who is elected or reelected in this upcoming election, the whole Chevron case could add more complexity to the outcomes we see for both people attending school now, people that are about to attend school, and people that already have student loans," Mayotte said.

What a second Trump term could mean for students

In Trump's previous administration, a backlog of applications to the Education Department's Public Service Loan Forgiveness program piled up, and he worked to weaken forgiveness protections for students who'd been defrauded by higher education institutions, BI previously reported. The former president also proposed massive cuts to the Education Department's budget and supported plans to cap the amount of loans parents can take out to fund their child's education.

Biden-era student loan forgiveness measures, as well as his new income-driven SAVE repayment plan, are making their way through court challenges led by conservative groups, which are not likely to be resolved before 2025. If Trump wins in November, he could end the legal battles — thereby ending students' chances at forgiveness and reduced payment amounts — by casting Biden's efforts aside, BI previously reported.

"Overall, I think a Biden administration is going to be more favorable for college affordability than a Trump administration," Kantrowitz said. "You just look at what happened during the Trump's presidency, and you can expect a lot of that to occur again — and then maybe some new things."

Representatives for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Big Tech firms such as Google and Microsoft are competing for top AI talent.
• But workers may be the real winners of the battle as they're securing bigger compensation packages.
• Recent data from Levels.fyi and PwC shows AI-skilled jobs are offering higher salaries. 

Tech companies are embroiled in an intense war for top AI talent.

The likes of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Meta are fiercely competing to woo workers with AI skills.

But the true victors of the contest may be the workers who are winning big compensation packages.

Ram Srinivasan, a future of work expert and managing director of consulting firm JLL, told Business Insider that the AI talent race is "creating a promising landscape for tech professionals."

"AI talent is in high demand, with companies offering impressive compensation. Some AI experts have received offers topping $1 million in total compensation, including substantial equity. This competitive market is pushing up salaries and providing attractive financial incentives for tech workers," Srinivasan said.

PwC analyzed more than half a billion job ads in 15 countries for its 2024 Global AI Jobs Barometer. It concludes that workers who learn to harness AI are likely to have bright futures despite the likely impact on employment in some sectors.

The talent war appears to be going in workers' favor, as employers are willing to pay more to entice those with AI skills. The PwC report says US-based job postings seeking AI expertise are associated with a 25% wage premium.

A May report from Levels.fyi, a platform that lets tech workers submit their compensation information, revealed that total pay for AI engineers has recently been on an upward trend.

Salary trends data obtained by Levels.fyi showed starting salaries for AI engineers in the US rose to $300,600 by March, up from $231,000 in August 2022.

Its report on AI engineer compensation trends for the first quarter found that entry-level AI engineers earn 8.6% more than non-AI engineers this year. At a more senior level, AI engineers earn almost 11% more than their non-AI counterparts.

Workers might also have more leverage to negotiate even better compensation and benefits as their expertise is highly sought after.

Those with experience in machine learning, engineering, and deep learning are securing impressive salaries. The median total compensation for a machine learning or AI software engineer is $140,823, according to Levels.fyi.

Big tech players must continue to be competitive to successfully recruit AI-skilled workers, as many AI experts are attracted to startups, according to Srinivasan.

In his view, workers might find startups more appealing as they can "have more creative input and potentially reap significant financial rewards if the company succeeds."

• Trump wants his hush-money verdict nixed in the wake of the Supreme Court immunity opinion. 
• But Trump's new immunity superpowers won't derail his September sentencing, experts predict.
• That's because any official-act evidence used in his trial only amounts to "harmless error."

"No harm, no foul" isn't just for streetball. It could help former President Donald Trump's hush-money conviction survive the US Supreme Court immunity opinion.

Thanks to a legal doctrine called "harmless error," Trump's September 18 sentencing is virtually guaranteed to proceed as planned, former New York judges and prosecutors predicted in conversations with Business Insider.

And no amount of jumping up and down and screaming "SCOTUS" can stop it, they said.

That's because even if Trump's trial judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, finds that presidential immunity retroactively invalidates some evidence used at trial, he'll likely also find that this amounts to "harmless error."

No harm, no foul — meaning that even if you removed the challenged evidence, there would still be overwhelming proof of Trump's guilt.

"Saying it's harmless means you're saying that removing this evidence from the trial wouldn't change the verdict," explained John Moscow, a former Manhattan financial crimes prosecutor.

"And yes, I believe the judge will find that he would have been convicted regardless," added Mocow, now senior counsel at Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss in New York.

"And yes, I believe that the judge will find that this was harmless."

What are Trump's lawyers trying to do?

Trump's lawyers are about to file what's known as a 330.30 motion to set aside the verdict. Their deadline for filing is Wednesday.

It's a pre-sentencing motion. And it's based on a state statute that tells New York criminal trial judges that they must toss out a verdict if the defense proves that something happened in the trial that was so grievously wrong, it would never survive an appeal.

And here's where SCOTUS comes in

Trump's lawyers have already given Merchan and prosecutors the broad outlines of what they believe those grievous 330.30 grounds for an appellate reversal are.

They're the same grounds they raised pre-trial in March, in arguing without success that the trial should be delayed until SCOTUS addressed presidential immunity.

Monday's immunity opinion protects former presidents from having to defend themselves against evidence involving their "official acts."

Trump's lawyers now say there were at least four times that the judge improperly let Manhattan prosecutors show official-act evidence to the jury.

All four instances involved evidence from 2017 and early 2018. (It was just 11 days before the 2016 election when then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen fronted $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels. But Trump was in the White House when he falsified Trump Organization records throughout 2017 to hide paying Cohen back.)

Trump says his 2017-18 phone logs were official-act evidence

The defense is poised to argue that the hush-money jury should never have seen phone logs showing when and for how long Cohen's phone connected with phones used by Trump.

But the logs are neither "acts" nor vital to a verdict, former prosecutors said.

"A phone record is not the president doing something," said Diana Florence, another former financial crimes prosecutor now in private practice.

"The logs only show that this instrument connected to that instrument," Moscow agreed.

"And if that's an official act, then that's a real problem," he added, meaning that any such interpretation of presidential immunity would be incredibly broad.

Still, "the conversation is what was important, and the fact of a conversation was confirmed by the person on the other end," meaning Cohen, who the verdict shows the jurors believed, Moscow said.

"So if you knock out the phone logs, that doesn't warrant a new trial."

Trump says his 2018 tweets were official-act evidence

The hush-money jury should never have seen certain incriminating 2018 tweets, the defense is also ready to argue in seeking that 330.30 reversal.

In the tweets, Trump described his payments to Cohen as hush-money reimbursement, contrary to his business records, in which the payments were falsely — and 34 times — called "legal fees."

But the tweets were from Trump's personal Twitter account. They described payments from Trump's personal checkbook. And they concerned the most personal of allegations — a one-night-stand with a porn actor.

"And that's why it wasn't on the White House stationery," Florence joked. "President Donald J. Trump here, and I didn't pay that porn star."

"If tweets or 'truths' are all official acts, then the libel and defamation laws all go," added Moscow. "Privacy laws all go. He can say whatever he wants whenever he wants to."

Trump says an Oval Office conversation with Hope Hicks was official-act evidence, too

The defense is also poised to argue that the jury should never have heard former White House communications director Hope Hicks testify about a 2018 Oval Office conversation, in which she said Trump told her he was relieved the hush-money story broke after the election, rather than before.

The testimony was "devastating" and showed Trump considered the hush-money payment to be vital to his campaign, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury in closing statements.

Florence thought this conversation might arguably be official under the SCOTUS opinion "because she worked for the administration."

The opinion says that in the DC insurrection case, Trump's discussions with his acting attorney general "are readily categorized in light of the nature of the President's official relationship to the office held by that individual" and are therefore immune from prosecution and cannot be used against him.

"But even then, he's talking with Hicks about something relating to his personal life," Florence added.

Either way — whether it was properly or improperly shared with the jury — the Hicks conversation is more corroborative than substantive, and the verdict would survive without it, Florence and Moscow agreed.

Finally, Trump says a 2018 government ethics form was also official-act evidence

The last piece of purportedly official-act evidence Trump is challenging is a government ethics form he signed in 2018.

The form details Trump's assets and liabilities and is mandatory for all presidents and high-level administration officials.

Prosecutors showed it to jurors because it includes Trump's claim that "Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017." By calling it reimbursement, Trump contradicts his business records, which disguised the reimbursement as legal fees.

"The Supreme Court could not mean that the president is immune from filling out forms," Moscow said. "If that is an official act, then Trump has no liability for signing and approving any documents."

Said Florence, "If he was being prosecuted for that form — for that being a false filing — then maybe, maybe, in the new world we're living in then that could cause the verdict to be overturned.

"That's if the judge deemed it an official act, which it could be," she said. "But the thing is, it's only more corroboration."

No reversal necessary

Even without the phone logs, the tweets, the Hicks testimony, and the ethics form, there is more than enough non-official-act evidence to convict Trump, said Charles Solomon, who, before retiring, was a state Supreme Court justice in Manhattan for more than 30 years.

"Even if he had immunity from all of this evidence, that doesn't mean you throw out the whole verdict," said Solomon, who after leaving the bench worked as an advisor to the DA's office.

"I don't think there's anything appearing in the record requiring a reversal or modification of the verdict as a matter of law," he said.

"The question every judge is going to ask, and the then the appellate courts will ask too, is was the error of such significance that had it not been made, the verdict could well have been different," said attorney Thomas Franczyk.

"The judge will ask, 'even if we set that evidence aside, was there sufficient evidence left to still say 'no harm, no foul, there would have been a conviction anyway?'" said Franczyk, a retired state Supreme Court justice from Buffalo who has written about 330.30 motions for the Assigned Counsel Program of Erie County.

And if a 330.30 fails, it's straight to sentencing

If Merchan rejects the defense 330.30 motion, it's game over, at least on the trial-court level. Trump's sentencing will be the next, inevitable step, the retired judges and former prosecutors who spoke to BI agreed.

As a newly sentenced felon, Trump can immediately appeal — including on the grounds that official-act evidence was improperly admitted and that the 330.30 motion was improperly denied.

Trump's hush-money conviction appeal will take years and could even lead back to the US Supreme Court.

"I can write their opinion: 'It's Donald Trump, so he wins,'" Moscow joked. "With a concurring opinion by Justice Clarence 'My Buddies Won't Continue Funding Me If I Let His Conviction Stand' Thomas."

Any sentence will almost certainly be put on ice in its entirety pending the outcome of Trump's appeals, experts say.

Still, Trump will remain a convicted and sentenced felon for the duration. That's including — if the current September 18 sentencing date holds — as Americans head to the polls in November to choose their next president.

"Obviously, we're all speculating because who in the world ever thought that this is where we would ever be," said Florence.

"But I'm pretty sure there will be a sentencing," she said. "Maybe Judge Cannon would set the verdict aside," she said, referring to US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who presides over his Florida classified documents case.

"But I don't think a Judge Merchan will."

Prosecutors have called the 330.30 effort "without merit." They must file their response by July 24. Merchan has said he will issue a written decision on September 6. A DA spokesperson and a lawyer for Trump declined to comment on this story.

• When my father got lung cancer, I became his caretaker. 
• My brothers didn't have contact with him, and I had a classic case of 'eldest daughter syndrome.'
• Though it was a lot of pressure and I felt isolated at times, I also don't regret it.

As the oldest of three kids and the only girl, I grew up feeling like I had to take care of everyone. I relished being the oldest as a child, but as I matured, the responsibility increased, and I never learned to say no. This classic case of 'eldest daughter syndrome' led to me becoming the father's sole caregiver of my father, who dealt with alcoholism, and the only person in my family to continue a relationship with him long-term.

My father's steadfast refusal to seek help for his alcoholism resulted in my parents' divorce when I was 14. As alcohol took over his life, Dad's desire to see his kids began to fade. My brothers and I were relieved; spending every other weekend in his smoke-filled apartment, listening to him rant about the divorce as he drank himself into a stupor, wasn't our adolescent idea of a good time.

I heard sporadically from my father as I entered adulthood and even reluctantly saw him a few times. I didn't have much desire to connect with him — he still drank heavily, and I resented his lack of support growing up — but the eldest daughter in me worried I might one day regret my choice if I rebuffed his peace offerings.

My brothers didn't want to spend time with our father

My brothers continued to keep their distance, claiming he gave up the right to a relationship when he disappeared from our lives. I rationalized that alcoholism had impacted his ability to be a father, while they saw his actions as a choice he made willingly. I realized it wasn't a matter of wrong vs. right; someone needed to be there for Dad, and as the oldest and only girl, the job fell to me.

When I was a new mom in my early 30s, Dad, a smoker since his teens, called to tell me he had lung cancer. Thus began nearly a decade of single-handedly caring for my father as his health circled the proverbial drain. The saga started with several four-hour round-trip drives to pick him up in the small town where he lived, only to turn around and drive him back to my city to consult a surgeon. I waited alone at the hospital as he underwent the three-hour procedure to remove his left lung and visited him daily until his release.

I took it upon myself to care for Dad

A couple of months later, Dad suddenly couldn't walk. I found myself on another tour of specialists, where a neurosurgeon finally diagnosed hydrocephalus, an excessive buildup of spinal fluid on the brain. I waited, alone again, through a two-hour surgery to insert a shunt that would drain the excess fluid. During Dad's recovery from that operation, it became clear he could no longer care for himself, so it fell to me to set him up in a nursing home and carve out time to visit him so he wouldn't feel abandoned.

To be fair, the few times I asked for help, my siblings came through for me. They made clear, though, that they were helping me, not my father, and I believed, as their older sister, I shouldn't need help. I kept my requests to a minimum.

My father finally succumbed to cirrhosis at 65. There was no funeral, and I felt sorry for myself as I left the funeral home with his ashes — my final solo act as his oldest child. But I broke down in tears at the realization that I was the only person in the world who cared enough to be there for him in the end.

I understood my brothers' reasons for not wanting a relationship with our father. If I'd seen it as an option, I might have even done the same thing. But I accepted their refusal to interact with him and my resulting role as his only caretaker as just another of my eldest daughter responsibilities. That created a lot of pressure, but I'm thankful my role in the family forced that path because I can look back on my relationship with Dad without regret.

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of our top stories. Ever ask your boss if you can finish work early? A CEO who said he's sick of hearing it from employees has gone viral.

On the agenda today:

• Employees have found a bold new way to cheat their way to the top.
• For some lucky boomers, now is the golden age of retirement.
• The big winners of the AI boom are the most boring companies imaginable.
• Bobby Jain's monster hedge fund is live. Here's everyone Jain Global has hired.

But first: Takeaways from a chaotic 10 days in the US presidential race.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

Pressure on Biden builds

US President Joe Biden had a terrible debate. He's done little to turn things around since and appears to be in denial over the damage done to his campaign.

That's the story of a critical 10-day period in the US presidential race, which kicked off with Biden's historically bad debate performance.

Biden's poor performance led to a Democrat freak out and growing calls for Biden to step aside. In a sign of the public mood, BI's list of the Democrats who could replace Biden saw a sudden and dramatic spike in readership shortly after the debate.

In the days since, there have been excuses, new Biden flubs, and fresh calls from donors and House Democrats for Biden to step down. Republican rival Donald Trump has been posting furiously on social media throughout.

Biden remains defiant. In a Friday interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, he dismissed his low approval rating and questioned polling data that shows Trump is growing his lead in the race.

Crucially, Biden said that only God could get him to drop out, and that he'd be OK with losing to Trump "as long as I give it my all."

Neither sentiment is likely to satisfy the many Democrats who have serious concerns about Biden's mental acuity and electability.

The rise of "shadow stand-ins"

It's never been easier to offload your labor. Globalized social networks, ubiquitous software tools, and the pandemic have created a perfect storm — and workers are taking advantage of it.

Across the globe, employees are secretly outsourcing parts or all of their jobs, creating a clandestine world of "shadow stand-ins."

The workers secretly outsourcing their jobs.

Also read:

• It's suddenly a whole lot harder to get a promotion

Golden age of retirement

While many of their peers face a retirement crisis, some boomers are entering their golden years flush with savings.

Three boomers who spoke with Business Insider are a bright spot in an increasingly grim retirement landscape: They're benefiting from now-rare pensions, real estate value increases, and stock-market gains.

How they're winning retirement.

The winners of the AI boom

They're not flashy, but they might be worth your cash. Construction, electric, and utility companies are set to benefit most from the AI boom.

They all benefit from the incredible surge in data center construction. And these under-the-radar stocks are already outperforming.

The boring champs of AI.

Also read:

• AI data centers could add 3 New York Cities of demand to the power grid in 2 years

Meet Jain Global's employees

Jain Global, one of the most anticipated new hedge funds in years, started trading this week. Its founder, Bobby Jain, has spent months building out an impressive roster ahead of its launch.

BI has been keeping tabs on the fund's hires, and has a running list of 135-plus new employees, including names, job titles, and past employers.

See our list of new hires.

Also read:

An key exec at hot new hedge-fund Jain Global explains how it will be different.

This week's quote:

"I didn't want to be a rich kid who used connections to get everything."

— Pete Ballmer, one of the sons of billionaire and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

More of this week's top reads:

• "Hawk Tuah Girl" has our attention. Next, she would like our money.
• Google's ambitious plan to replace tracking cookies is crumbling.
• Google is testing facial-recognition security at one of its campuses.
• New data shows YouTube is really good at getting kids to buy stuff.
• Jeff Bezos is once again cashing out billions in Amazon shares.
• Women's sports merchandise is a $4 billion industry. Who's going to step up to the plate?

• The VC that predicted a "mass extinction event for startups" says it's time for a "Great Reawakening."

  ---

  The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York.

• Silversea's new Silver Ray cruise ship has 544 crew members to tend to its 728 guests.
• The ship has 333 crew cabins and 540 beds, which means some have to share their rooms.
• The workers spend their free time in various common areas like a secret bar and small spa.

It takes a village to keep a cruise ship running. And after a long day of work, the villagers deserve a beer and a massage.

On luxury cruise line Silversea's new ship, Silver Ray, guests can dine on free tins of caviar, luxuriate in the complimentary spa, and drink as many fancy cocktails as their hearts desire.

It's one of Silversea's parent company, Royal Caribbean Group's, most high-end and contemporary ships. And much of its ritzy onboard experience is made possible by the crew.

Silver Ray has 544 crew members to tend to its 728 guests.

This one-to-1.3 staff-to-guest ratio is hard to miss, from the suite's affable butlers to the workers who remember your name after meeting you once in passing.

This kind of high-touch service is, in part, what distinguishes mass-market cruise lines from their luxury counterparts.

Workers' hours vary vastly depending on their positions.

For example, some bakers work overnight to prepare the bread for breakfast service, while others — like some of the bar stsff — don't start work until the afternoon, although their shift could go into the early morning hours as well.

They can head to the gym to decompress after a long day (or night) of work.

Alessandro Zanello, Silver Ray's captain, told reporters during a media panel in June that he thinks the crew gym on Silver Ray "is better than most of the guest gyms on previous ships."

It looks less than half the size of the guest one on Silver Ray — but at it's furnished with staples like treadmills, free weights, and resistance equipment.

What better way to recover from a workout than to sit in the steam room?

That's right. Silver Ray also has a staff-only spa.

The compact space has a steam room and two plush massage chairs separated by a curtain. They're first come, first serve — and, of course, in high demand, Zanello said.

Silver Ray's guests can indulge at the ship's eight bars.

The crew has a bar, too.

Most of the ship's guest-facing bars are posh and elegant. This one feels more contemporary, with modern light fixtures and trendy art pieces that brighten the pockets of seating.

Or, they can spend their free time lounging in the dayroom.

Here, folks can chit-chat at a large window-lined booth or charge their phones while perusing the internet (using Starlink, of course).

The dayroom is also equipped with the same coffee machines as the one available in the guest observation lounge. So, instead of sharing an old pot of black coffee, the team can instantly brew themselves a latte or cappuccino.

The 2,350 workers on Royal Caribbean Group’s new world-largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, has a game room stocked with consoles.

Unfortunately, Silver Ray doesn't have a staff-only game room. But at least the lounge has a foosball table!

The conjoined outdoor space is much simpler, furnished with only a few seats and tables.

Workers are also welcome to sunbathe in a small sliver of the guest area on the top deck. But with that comes rules, like no music, food, drinks, or nudity, according to a sign posted on a crew bulletin board.

Don't expect to see all of your waitstaff at the breakfast buffet.

They have their own small buffet, stocked four times daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night from 10:30 p.m. to midnight.

The crew represents 45 nationalities worldwide. To accommodate all these backgrounds, Rohit Dimir, Silver Ray's executive chef, told reporters during a ship tour in June that their meals are generally a mix of global cuisines, from "oriental soup" to salads and grilled foods.

The adjacent dining room is open around the clock.

Andrea Tonet, Silversea's vice president of product strategy, told reporters that about 98% of Silver Ray's private and public spaces have ocean views and floor-to-ceiling glass walls.

While the crew mess doesn't have these expansive windows, it does have small portholes that brighten the dense space.

More contemporary art — like a print of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" with a face tattoo — brings personality to the large dining room, as do the television screens streaming programs like Fox News.

There’s nothing better than decompressing alone in your bedroom after a long day of work.

For some workers, "alone" isn't part of the equation.

Silver Ray has 364 guest suites (the smallest of which is pictured above), all with sumptuous amenities like walk-in closets, balconies, and butlers.

In comparison, the ship's 333 crew cabins have 540 beds, which means some have roommates.

On the bright side, Zanello said some accommodations have more than one TV. So, if Fox News in the dining room isn't cutting it, and you don't want to watch your roommate's movie, at least you'll have your own TV.

After all, happy crew, happy cruise.

• You need more than a battery-powered car to get Wall Street's attention these days.
• The hype train has moved on to EV software.
• The latest deal between Rivian and Volkswagen shows how investor interests have changed.

A battery-powered car alone is no longer enough to excite Wall Street.

Many companies are now on the same playing field when it comes to EV range, charging times, and the ability to mass-produce these vehicles. That leaves Wall Street investors looking for something else to set an electric vehicle maker apart: software.

Leading this change in investor interest is, once again, Tesla.

As an ongoing slowdown in the growth of electric car sales finally pinched Elon Musk's car company this year, the billionaire has been putting more emphasis on the power of Tesla's software to underpin a driverless robotaxi fleet, which would create an entirely new revenue stream just as sales revenue is shrinking.

The plans helped reverse a weekslong rout in Tesla's stock price as Musk once again hyped "a combination of Airbnb and Uber," that would up utilization of owners' cars when they'd otherwise sit parked and help them gain value over time — the opposite of what usually happens with new vehicles.

As demand for EVs wanes and Tesla's plans for a more affordable model are no more apparent, investors have latched onto Musk's software-based plans for the company.

"The key for Tesla's stock looking ahead is the Street recognizing that Tesla is the most undervalued AI play in the market," Dan Ives, a longtime Tesla bull at Wedbush, wrote in a note to clients in early July.

Tesla has a Robotaxi day scheduled for investors next month that Ives says "will lay the yellow brick road to FSD and an autonomous future."

All aboard the hype train

It appears Tesla's competitors are recognizing the same change in the hype cycle.

Rivian, which has been facing its own issues with a falling stock price and disappointing financial results, is now riding high after announcing a software joint venture with Volkswagen.

The companies said that Volkswagen will make an initial $1 billion investment in Rivian as part of a software development deal. It's Rivian's second high-profile joint venture with a major automaker since it burst onto the scene a few years ago.

The first was a $500 million investment from Ford to build EVs in a joint venture Rivian struck before it had even started production. That deal eventually fizzled, and the companies did not end up building a car together.

Now, heading into the second generation of its pickup truck and SUV lineup, Rivian is joining forces with Volkswagen on the brain of the vehicle.

After losing its post-IPO luster, Rivian has struggled to boost its stock price in recent years despite decent demand for their cars and well-received redesigns and new models announced earlier this year.

In a sign that the hype train has moved on from just EVs to the software that powers them, Rivian's stock enjoyed a 49% surge in after-hours trading following the announcement of the VW deal.

EV startups have always followed Wall Street's interests to raise money

Joint ventures like the one between Rivian and Volkswagen have become a common occurrence in recent years, and while the contents of these deals often change, the motivation remains the same.

Startups like Rivian need to follow Wall Street's interests to keep money flowing. This time, a software-focused deal appears to have done the trick.

As of Friday afternoon, Rivian's stock was still hovering above its more recent averages, up about 22% since its last closing price before the deal was announced June 25.

The day after Rivian and Volkswagen announced the partnership Bank of America analyst John Murphy praised the deal as a smart money-raising move for Rivian.

Murphy said the deal, totaling $5 billion in investment from VW over time, will aid in funding Rivian's ongoing production ramp-up of the R2 lineup in Normal, Il, as well as a second factory in Georgia that will house the R3 vehicle platform.

"We have assumed RIVN would need to raise more capital, and VW's investments in RIVN will prove valuable in helping it achieve the scale necessary to get to positive free cash flow," Murphy wrote.

While Volkswagen's stock price hasn't enjoyed the same ride as Rivian's, investors are pleased to see the German automaker focusing on improving its software development programs.

JP Morgan analyst Jose Asumendi called the joint venture "a positive step in the right direction to accelerate the transition of VW Group into becoming a more agile entity."

• Qatar Airways' private jet subsidiary just took delivery of the first two Gulfstream G700s.
• The $81 million plane, which has a bedroom, can fly faster and further than its predecessor.
• Elon Musk was reported to have ordered one back in 2022.

Gulfstream's G650ER is popular with billionaires including customers like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates.

But the long-awaited G700 is a step up, capable of going faster and further than its predecessor. Certification of the new jet had been delayed from its target of last December, primarily because the Federal Aviation Administration changed its internal processes.

While the G700 had previously been displayed at the Paris Air Show, I was among the first to tour one post-certification when it was displayed at a business aviation conference in Switzerland.

With a longer cabin and improved technology, it's unsurprising that someone as wealthy as Musk has placed an order for the G700, as reported by the Texas-based news site Austonia.

In May, I flew to Geneva to attend EBACE, Europe's largest business aviation conference.

Six days earlier, the first two Gulfstream G700s were officially received by Qatar Executive — the private jet subsidiary of Qatar Airways.

The G700 was finally certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in March, making it the world's newest private jet.

Qatar was evidently proud to show off the new jet. It was the only one on display at EBAXE that wasn't fenced off, and anyone could line up to see on board for a few minutes.

However, unlike previous years, Gulfstream itself was not exhibiting at EBACE.

Underneath the cockpit window is the enhanced flight vision system, a camera that helps pilots land in low-visibility conditions.

Powered by Rolls Royce's Pearl 700 engines, it can reach speeds of Mach 0.925 (709 mph) with a range of 8,630 miles — one of the farthest in the industry.

That gives the G700 both a faster speed and a further distance than its predecessor.

Boarding the jet, you first see the galley with an oven, microwave, and plenty of counter space.

Opposite this was a seat for the cabin crew, with a sliding door for privacy.

Qatar's touches to the fully customizable interior were evident, especially with the elaborate carpet. The cabin is a spacious 6 feet 5 inches tall.

The G700's cabin can be pressurized to 2,916 feet, the lowest altitude of any business jet — easing the effects of fatigue and jet lag.

Past the front seating area was an entertainment space with a sofa and a TV that pops up from the sideboard.

There's another screen at the back of the cabin, where four people can sit round a table.

This G700 can seat up to 13 people. Plus, the divan and chairs can turned into beds giving space for eight people to sleep on board.

Qatar Executive describes the cabin as "whisper-quiet." That's helped by the flush design of the overwing emergency exit.

The cabin air is replaced every two to three minutes, and Qatar Executive says the ionizing system provides "the highest air quality possible today in a business jet."

I sat in one of the leather seats, which have adjustable headrests and a pop-up legrest. Of course, it was incredibly comfortable and worlds away from my easyJet flight that morning.

From the seat, I could experience Gulfstream's signature "panoramic windows." It's hard to sum up just how expansive the circular shape makes the view, compared to a usual plane window.

The lights and window shades can be controlled by buttons next to each seat.

And there are charging ports set into the wall at an angle for improved convenience.

The main comfort is the bedroom in the aft living space.

It had plenty of stowage space on the side and another TV at the foot of the bed.

I don't think there would be many morning views much cooler than rolling over to see the skies out of the huge window.

There's more stowage space, a lamp, and a drink holder tucked behind the pillows.

I thought the bathroom layout was a bit quirky with the mirror perpendicular to the sink.

But that allows for a larger mirror and space for a door which provides easy access to the hold in flight.

• I'm a journalist and consultant, and my partner is a carpenter.
• He changed my perspective on work and taught me my career isn't my identity.
• Watching his cycle of layoffs made it bearable when I lost my job.

I met Tom at a bonfire hosted by a friend of mine. That night, he sent me a message, and the conversation hasn't ended nearly four years later. We became an item when I separated from my now-deceased ex-husband.

When Tom said he was a carpenter, I thought of artisan furniture in quaint New England shops. The reality was that he worked in concrete and did hard, manual labor that ruined his knees and led to arthritis in his mid-40s.

I had just started my writing career when Tom and I met

My family likes to say we're a union family — my great-grandmother Maida was a dressmaker whose organizing career took her to Africa, England, and Turkey to advocate for labor rights. Now, we are rather white-collar. My granddad — Maida's son — was an attorney and my grandmother led a foundation. I went to private schools and toured the country performing slam poetry with my mother.

I spent my 20s hopping around the country before having kids in my 30s. This delayed my career. In my mid-30s, I began writing and returned to school. My writing career had just begun when Tom and I became acquainted.

We worked in entirely different industries

The first time he told me he'd been laid off, I told him I was sorry. He wasn't. He told me all jobs in the trades end eventually, and layoff is an inevitable part of the process. This was new to me — most jobs, I've worked a few years until I quit.

As I finished undergrad, became a serious journalist, and began my master's degree, the only thing changing in his world was the addition of me and my children. His work remained the same. A job. A layoff. Another job.

I was doing all new things: teaching public speaking to college freshmen, interviewing authors, learning about artificial intelligence for my thesis.

Before my last semester of graduate school, I accepted a senior leadership job at a nonprofit. When my position was eliminated due to a funding cut six months after I started, watching his cycle of layoffs made mine bearable.

He often says, "I came here looking for a job, and I'll leave here looking for a job." I tried to keep that attitude and stay optimistic. I put my head down and pitched editors and I made enough money that I was kicked off unemployment before my second check.

That summer, I took a part-time consulting job and focused on my journalism career. I wrote my first cover story, and developed ongoing relationships with editors that have kept the money consistent.

We've learned from each other

As my career blooms, Tom's is winding down. He is set to retire with a full pension by 50 and he would like to do something else — perhaps continue his education or open a deli — when he is done.

Construction is slow and he has been off for six months. But he takes good care of our home and loves my children like his own. He would like to find another job doing furniture assembly, which is easier on the body than concrete — but the offices he put together last year are empty because none of us "office folk" want to return in person.

He's taught me that my career is not my identity. Jobs are just jobs, and I put most of my energy into my writing. He says that I've taught him to look forward to retirement and a chance to do work that is more meaningful — and possibly even slightly enjoyable.

We've made each other more entrepreneurial. And I know I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else.

• Cracker Barrel is trying to regain relevancy with diners, its CEO said earlier this year.
• One restaurant hostess said that her Cracker Barrel location struggles with worker turnover.
• She also described how management aims to upsell customers on drinks and take-home meals.

At a Cracker Barrel in the Midwest, busloads of diners pull in from the interstate most Saturday nights and swarm the entrance.

"You're at the hostess desk, someone comes up, and I say 'Hey, welcome to Cracker Barrel. How many will be dining with us today?' and they'll say 'It's 48.'" The hostess asked not to be named, citing potential retaliation at work. Business Insider verified her identity and employment.

The hostess said these big groups, which can include seniors heading home from a casino or high school sports teams on their way to a tournament, can quickly overwhelm the restaurant's waitstaff. She said frequent employee turnover can mean many waiters have been on the job for just a few weeks and have only just grasped the menu and workflow.

"It's just absolute hell," the hostess, who has worked at the restaurant for about 18 months, said of the Saturday evening rush. Another Cracker Barrel employee, a server in Pennsylvania, also described high turnover at their store.

Cracker Barrel CFO Craig Pommells said during an earnings call in November that the chain has increased its investment in worker pay in hopes of reducing employee turnover.

To be sure, most restaurants face high turnover rates. The restaurant industry's turnover rate last year was 74% — the highest of any industry in the US, according to Toast, a restaurant software company.

Cracker Barrel is upselling customers with packaged food

The hostess said her Cracker Barrel location is increasingly trying to get customers to buy more food and drinks through various upselling strategies.

She said her managers recently instructed her to approach diners with a tray of entreés packaged to go and ask them if they'd like to buy one. The entrées, which cost $5 each, are one way that Cracker Barrel executives say they're trying to increase how much patrons spend during a visit.

"You're supposed to come up with scenarios," she said, referencing instructions from management. "'You have a kid at home, give him some meatloaf.'"

She said some customers have balked at this selling strategy, with one telling her, "It seems like Cracker Barrel is trying to squeeze every dollar out of its patrons."

A Cracker Barrel spokesperson told BI that patrons have "responded positively" to the $5 take-home entrées since the chain introduced them early last year.

"As a company, Cracker Barrel communicates menu updates and innovations to guests in a variety of ways including in-store through our servers and hosts and through signage throughout the restaurant and digitally though email, social media and through the Cracker Barrel app and Cracker Barrel Rewards," the spokesperson said.

Upselling is hardly unique to Cracker Barrel, however, as anyone who has dined out would know.

It's a common strategy used in restaurants, stores, and online to inflate ticket totals and earn more profit on every customer.

And Cracker Barrel could really use a boost in customer spending.

Cracker Barrel said in May that quarterly revenue declined 1.9% to $817.1 million year-over-year. Same-store sales dropped 1.5%, and same-store retail sales fell 3.8% in the same period.

Do you work at Cracker Barrel or another major restaurant and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com