A former top economic adviser to President Donald Trump says he supports President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package and thinks Congress should pass it, CNN reported.
Kevin Hassett told the network on Friday that the package is a way to keep the economy afloat, and that he feared the GDP could shrink again without it.
"There are so many businesses treading water, barely hanging on. Now they are getting hit by another shock," Hassett told CNN. "You could end up in a negative spiral for the economy."
Hassett served as Trump's top economic adviser from 2017 to 2019. He returned in a voluntary role in March 2020.
Some Republican Senators have said they're opposed to Biden's package.
Biden's plan includes a $1,400 stimulus check, $400 in weekly federal unemployment benefits, $130 billion in funds to reopen schools and, $350 billion in assistance for state and local governments.
Russian opposition leader Alex Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has become one of more than 1,600 arrested during protests for his release from prison.
She was detained in Moscow during one of 60 protests planned across different Russian cities on Saturday, according to the OVD-info monitoring group, with temperatures plummeting to below -50°F in some areas.
Navalny was arrested on Sunday after flying back to Russia from Germany. He had spent the last five months recovering from an almost fatal nerve agent attack in August, the BBC reported.
The opposition leader is one of Vladimir Putin's most outspoken critics and blamed the attack on the Kremlin, which has denied any involvement in the incident.
Yulia Navalnaya posted an image of herself on Instagram, captioned: "Sorry for the poor quality. Very bad light in the paddy wagon."
A post shared by @yulia_navalnaya
While the Russian authorities said 4,000 people took part in the demonstrations, according to The Washington Post, an estimated 40,000 people actually took part, Reuters reported, with some also held in the former Soviet states of Lithuania and Estonia.
Many were organized on TikTok using the hashtags #freenavalny and #23Jan. Russia's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, told the company to remove ones encouraging minors to get involved, Deutsche Welle noted.
Navalny's arrest comes days after his Anti-Corruption Foundation, or FBK, released a report and YouTube video accusing Putin of secretly building a secret $1b palace near Gelendzhik on the Black Sea funded by bribes, which the Kremlin has also denied.
Other prominent figures arrested include politician Lev Shlosberg, who has a seat in Russia's northwestern Pskov Regional Assembly, tweeted the news by saying: "Detained by the police."
Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer for FBK and activist, was also detained at the protest, as was Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, according to Deutsche Welle.
The US, France, and Canada have all called for Alex Navalny's release while the EU imposed sanctions on Russia over his arrest.
He was imprisoned for 30 days for violating the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence he received for fraud charges, which the 44-year-old maintains are politically motivated, Deutsche Welle added.
Navalny is set to appear in court early next month, where he will be told if he will serve more than three and a half years in jail or not, the London Evening Standard noted.
Emmy-winning broadcaster Larry King may be known for his interviews with major celebrities and politicians, but the television legend also interviewed top business leaders and CEOs.
The talk show was CNN's most-watched and longest-running show. It ran nightly for over two decades.
Throughout his 63-year career, King conducted 40,000 interviews and spoke with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
King was famous for interviews with politicians and other notable figures. But he also interviewed various notable business leaders, like the cofounder of Microsoft, Bill Gates.
We took a look at some of his most significant interviews with top business leaders.
The five interviews are listed below by date:
Bill Gates: 2000
Chesnot/Getty Images
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, has an estimated net worth of $129 billion.
Gates spoke with King on January 1, 2000 about the future of computers. He made a second appearance on the show in 2010, alongside his father.
In his first interview, King asked Gates if there had been a turning point for Microsoft.
Gates responded: "Well, it's hard to say. The most important thing we did is figure out how we could take all these computers from different companies, what are now called personal computers, and make them compatible, so you could buy from Dell, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, any of the manufacturer, and run all the same software. And that was a huge risk, because before that, all the computer had made incompatible machines."
Martha Stewart: 2004
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
Known for her DIY crafts and home decor tips, Martha Stewart is a businesswoman, writer, and television personality.
She founded the media and merchandising company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Stewart was sentenced to five months in jail in 2004, after being charged and convicted of a number of financial crimes.
Days after her sentencing, she appeared on the show, and spoke about the verdict.
King asked Stewart if she was surprised by the sentence.
Stewart responded: "You're always surprised at something like that, I would think. And you can't say that you're happy. You can't say, I mean, I'm happy that it's five months in, and five months house arrest. Rather than 16 months in prison. Which -- that was the sentencing guidelines. And the judge stayed within the minimum. I'm grateful for that."
Ken Lay: 2004
Kenneth Lay speaks during an interview in his office at the company's headquarters February 5, 1996 in Houston, Texas.
Paul Howell/Getty Images
Ken Lay was the founder and CEO of the energy company Enron Corporation.
He was found guilty on 10 counts of securities fraud and related charges in 2001. He passed away in 2006 while on vacation before serving time.
Enron's collapse was among the biggest corporate scandals in United States history.
In 2004, King went to Houston and interviewed Lay days after he pled not guilty.
"So you still had some faith in the company?" King asked Lay.
Lay responded: "I had a lot of faith in the company. Larry, when we went bankrupt, I still had about over a million shares of Enron stock I owned outright, and had about six million options, which up until late 2001 were very valuable."
Jeffrey Skilling: 2004
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling walks to the federal courthouse for his sentencing hearing October 23, 2006 in Houston, Texas.
He pled not guilty to 36 charges, including multiple counts of insider trading, securities fraud and making false statements stemming from the company's stunning collapse.
In 2006, Skillings was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
The scandal led to several reforms, including making CEO's personally verify corporate earnings reports.
When asked what he wants to do with his life, Skillings responded:
"I don't know, Larry. You know, at this point, I think my purpose, right now, in life -- what gets me up in the morning, which, some mornings, it's pretty tough to get up, but my purpose in life right now, getting up in the morning, is I want to be someone that goes out and helps explain what happened.
There are a lot of employees out there that, I imagine, have children that go to them and say, Mom or dad, did you work for a criminal organization -- a bad company? We weren't' a bad company. We were -- we were -- we thought we were building a great company. We thought we were building a company that was helping to open and create new competitive markets, give customers choice where choice never existed before. We felt good, all of us, and I think if I can do anything to get the message out so that -- so that our employees can look at their children and they can say we were part of a good organization. Something happened. It was -- you know, and we will find out what happened, but it was not because of the motives of the people that were involved, either their motives or certainly my motives. We were trying to build a great company."
Carlos Slim: 2010
Carlos Slim Helu speaks during a press conference of VII Symposium of Historic Centers at Palacio de Mineria on May 23, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Carlos Tischler/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Carlos Slim, is an influential Mexican businessman, investor, philanthropist, and is among the world's wealthiest individuals.
Mexico's richest man, he has an estimated net worth of $59 billion.
He was number one on the "Forbes" 2010 list of the wealthiest people.
Slim is the chairman and CEO of telecom giant Telmex and his family controls America Movil, Latin America's biggest mobile telecom firm.
When asked by King how stays on top of his business, Slim answered:
"Well, how can you be on top of the things you do? I think when you are involved in a business, first of all you need to know the business. After that you know the business, you can -- the numbers tell you what is happening. You can read with the numbers.
If things are going well, if are not going well. You make cooperation with your competitors. You look at the international references to try to achieve the best reference nationally. And you are following the business not necessarily going to the -- go to America to see what is happening and what our thinking. The numbers talk to you."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on June 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. Top federal health officials discussed efforts for safely getting back to work and school during the coronavirus pandemic.
Al Drago - Pool/Getty Images
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top disease expert, said he was "blocked" under the Trump administration from going on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow" show.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor, said that he could not go on "The Rachel Maddow Show," as he was "blocked" from doing so under the Trump administration.
"I've been wanting to come on your show for months and months. You've been asking me to come on your show for months and months," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious, told Maddow in an interview Friday. "And it's just gotten blocked. Let's call it what it is. It just got blocked because they didn't like the way you handle things, and they didn't want me on."
Trump had repeatedly attacked MSNBC and its reporters during his presidency, even mocking a reporter who had been shot by police with a rubber bullet at anti-racism protests last May.
Fauci said that health officials would be more present and available to the media under Biden's new administration.
"I think you're going to see a lot of transparency," Fauci said. "You might not see everyone as often as you want, but you're not going to see deliberate holding back of good people when the press asks for them."
A day before Biden's inauguration, the nation's top disease expert said serving in Trump's administration was " somewhat awkward." At the start of the pandemic in the US, Fauci was reportedly barred from speaking publicly about COVID-19 without approval. When he later warned against lifting lockdown measures too soon, Fauci disappeared from TV appearances.
"I don't take any great pleasure in criticizing presidential leadership or the people around the president, but we had a situation where science was distorted and/or rejected," Fauci said. "And a lot of pressure was put on individuals and organizations to do things that were not directly related to what their best opinion would be vis-a-vis the science," Fauci told Maddow.
Fauci also recalled that he "resisted" that pressure and "had to do something that was not comfortable" by "directly contradicting the president and some of the people around the president who were saying things that were not consistent with the science."
In an interview with CNN Friday, Fauci said Biden wants to "reset" the nation's approach to the virus and "let the science speak."
"We've really got to restore trust and restore a unified approach," he said.
During a White House briefing earlier this week, Fauci stated," it is somewhat of a liberating feeling" to no longer work under Trump, who repeatedly undermined his assessments and guidance about the pandemic.
"The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence - what the science is, and know that's it, let the science speak, it is somewhat of a liberating feeling," Fauci said.
President Joe Biden speaks as Vice President Kamala Harris looks on during an event on economic crisis in the State Dining Room of the White House January 22, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Several GOP senators expressed opposition to Biden's stimulus plan in recent days.
Several moderate Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins, are skeptical of the plan's large cost.
The opposition imperils the package's new measures of stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment insurance.
President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion economic rescue package ran into opposition from moderate Republican senators in recent days, imperiling the odds of a speedy passage for an early White House priority.
The Biden administration is moving to garner bipartisan support for the plan. Brian Deese, the National Economic Council Director, said during a press conference on Friday the White House is pitching it to a working group of 16 centrist Democratic and GOP senators in a Sunday call.
"We're at a precarious moment for the virus and economy," Deese said during a press conference on Friday. "We risk falling into a very serious economic hole, even more serious than the crisis we find ourselves in."
The proposal contains measures such as a $1,400 boost to stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment insurance, aid to state and local governments, and vaccine funds. It needs 10 Republican votes to clear the Senate.
Several moderate Republicans who form part of the bipartisan group, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, were skeptical of the plan's large cost ahead of the meeting.
"It's hard for me to see when we just passed $900 billion of assistance why we would have a package that big," Collins told Insider in a brief Thursday interview on Capitol Hill. "Maybe a couple of months from now, the needs will be evident and we will need to do something significant, but I'm not seeing it right now."
She added she was "sympathetic" to directed spending on measures like vaccine distribution.
Other GOP senators struck a similar tone. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a member of the Senate Finance Committee that presides over economic matters, said he wanted to hear "justification" from the White House about why Congress needed to enact another large rescue package.
"It seems to be trying to go after things that have already been addressed," Cassidy said in a recent Capitol Hill interview, adding it didn't appear to be "targeted" spending. He was critical of a provision to enact a $400 federal unemployment benefit until September.
Then Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told reporters on Friday: "My focus is to see where's the need, and let's make sure that the numbers are real based upon need, as opposed to simply looking for more stimulus."
Many experts are urging lawmakers to support robust federal spending to combat the economic and public health devastation caused by the pandemic. The economy shed 140,000 jobs last month, and the number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 reached 412,000 on Friday - surpassing the number of US combat dead in World War II.
Yet rising resistance among Republicans against the emergency spending package is creating a path laden with obstacles for the Biden administration.
Democrats could opt for a legislative maneuver called budget reconciliation to circumvent Republicans in a chamber split 50-50. That only needs a simple majority, though Democratic control of the Senate hinges on a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris.
The process sets up a very slim margin for error and it could scale back some of the plan's components to comply with strict budgetary rules. President Barack Obama used it to enact the Affordable Care Act a decade ago, while Republicans approved a large corporate tax cut in 2017 under President Donald Trump.
It may also be a time-consuming procedure at a moment the White House is eyeing swift action to fight the pandemic. Democrats have not ruled out using it to pass economic relief.
"There's clearly an interest in being bipartisan wherever you can," Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, incoming chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said in an interview on Friday. "But when there's an effort to tie everything up in knots just to prevent coming through for people who are jobless and hungry, and really can barely keep a roof over [their] head, then you gotta act."
Other hurdles complicating the timeline of a relief bill include a second Trump impeachment trial and confirmation of Biden's cabinet nominees. Republican and Democratic Senate leaders struck an agreement on Friday to delay the start of the trial for two weeks, though they haven't reached a deal on the filibuster.
Meanwhile, Biden signed an executive order to boost food stamps and accelerate the delivery of stimulus checks to millions of eligible Americans who didn't already receive one.
"We cannot, will not let people go hungry. We cannot let people be evicted because of nothing they did themselves. They cannot watch people lose their jobs," Biden said at a signing ceremony on Friday. "And we have to act. We have to act now."
Norwegian Cruise Line and its Regent Seven Seas Cruises brand will be asking all of its crew members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine prior to boarding, the cruise companies' spokespeople told Insider in an email statement.
It's just the latest sign that cruise sailings won't be departing any time soon.
However, one glimmer of hope shines at the end of the no-sail tunnel: the COVID-19 vaccine.
"We are exploring all options regarding vaccinations for guests and crew and it is our intention that all crew members be vaccinated before boarding our vessels to begin their duties, subject to availability of the vaccine," Norwegian and Regent Seven Seas' statements read. "We will continue to partner with global and domestic authorities and the Healthy Sail Panel, our team of leading expert advisors, to explore all options necessary to protect guests, crew and the communities visited."
Several other cruising companies - such as Carnival and its Holland America line - are "reviewing" different vaccines, but have not announced any decisions regarding mandatory vaccinations for its passengers, according to emails sent to Insider from Carnival and Holland America.
Even with the news of a vaccine, as of now, some experts don't have high hopes for the quick resumption of cruising. According to a note obtained by Barron's, Patrick Scholes, an analyst at Truist Securities, believes July may be the best time for cruises to resume, although later in 2021 is more promising.
However, the full-fledged return of cruising still remains to be seen.
Austin, Texas, has become one of the hottest relocation hotspots for tech talent during the pandemic.
Tesla founder Elon Musk has a Cybertruck factory under construction outside the city, and his Boring Company recently bought an industrial site nearby.
Big Tech has noticeably made itself more at home in Texas's capital in the last decade, but the industry has a long history in Austin.
Droves of tech talent from Silicon Valley and beyond continue to head to Austin, Texas - if they haven't landed there already.
In what many have called an exodus from the Bay Area, many tech workers - now untethered to their now-shuttered corporate offices - are able to work remotely and pack up for more affordable locales. Miami and Austin have turned out to be two of the most popular relocation spots.
Oracle is moving its headquarters to Austin, and Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, who already lives in Austin, confirmed in early November that he is moving his venture capital firm, 8VC, there as well. Tech executives like Dropbox CEO Drew Houston have announced they're moving to the Texas city. Tesla founder Elon Musk is building a new Cybertruck factory in Austin, and news recently surfaced that his Boring Company bought an industrial site in Pflugerville, a town just outside of Austin. Musk himself said he has moved to Texas, though it's unclear where exactly.
Google, Facebook, Atlassian, and Oracle have thousands of workers in Austin collectively. And Apple is shelling out $1 billion for a new campus in North Austin, with the potential to add 15,000 more workers to its existing 7,000.
Austin's considerably lower cost of living offers a nice reprieve from the sky-high costs in the Bay Area. But the recent tech boom isn't Austin's first rodeo - the industry has a long history in the capital city.
Here's how the tech industry has ballooned in Austin - and why "Silicon Hills" is so appealing to workers and companies alike.
As the tech industry continues to blossom in Austin, Texas, the capital city earns more and more comparisons to its West Coast tech hub cousin.
The capitol is seen in downtown Austin, Texas.
Both it and Silicon Valley have experienced rapid tech growth in recent years and are grappling with the side effects that come with it.
The Transamerica Pyramid building is seen in San Francisco, California.
Gentrification, rising housing costs, and a homelessness crisis are just some of the issues plaguing them.
A homeless individual lays on the sidewalk in San Francisco, California.
But Austin is still leagues behind San Francisco in many respects, which might be why the Texas city has increasingly become a favorable relocation destination for San Francisco techies.
Downtown Austin, Texas.
A 2018 LinkedIn survey placed Austin in the No. 5 spot in a list of the top 10 US cities San Francisco LinkedIn users were migrating to.
Passersby in Austin's South Congress district.
And a 2018 Brookings report cast Austin as No. 6 in a list of US cities attracting the most millennials, making Austin a hotbed for young professionals specifically.
Austinites take a load off at one of the many bars lining the city's Rainey Street district.
And although Texas is typically a red state, the city of Austin skews left. As the Austin-American Statesman's Eric Webb writes, Austin is a "blueberry in the tomato soup of Texas."
A sticker on a car's back window shows support for the one-time Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke in Austin, Texas, in December 2018.
Throw in a vibrant nightlife and music scene, and you've got a good place to live in the "Live Music Capital of the World."
A statue of Willie Nelson stands tall outside of Austin's Moody Theatre.
Austin has also earned another moniker in recent years: Silicon Hills, named after the Central Texas region's signature hill country.
Downtown Austin is seen from the Congress Avenue Bridge.
But Austin is no stranger to tech - not even close. The industry has had a foothold in the capital city for decades.
A woman tests Dell computers on an assembly line in Austin, Texas, in October 1998.
IBM's Austin track record traces all the way back to 1937 with the opening of a sales office. It was an early move that cemented the city as a future tech hub.
An IBM design studio in Austin, Texas, in 2015.
The same goes for Dell Technologies, the Austin area-based company established by now billionaire Michael Dell in 1984. Dell currently employs 138,000 workers worldwide, a reported 13,000 of which are in the Central Texas region.
And in 1983, Austin won a national competition to host the country's first for-profit computer research consortium, providing a resource pool for the top tech companies in the US.
The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation headquarters in Austin, Texas, pictured here in 2005.
Known as the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp, or the MCC, it helped establish Austin as a bigger player in the tech world. The MCC stopped operations in 2000.
The Texas Capitol building pictured in 2006.
In the 1990s, the Capital of Texas Highway, to the northwest of downtown, was a stretch where many tech companies set up shop. They started congregating in downtown Austin instead in the early 2000s.
In 1996, Samsung planted its first chip manufacturing center in Austin.
Samsung Chairman Jong-Yong Yun (third from the right) along with Texas Governor Rick Perry (third from the left) at the grand opening ceremonies at Samsung Austin Semiconductor (SAS) for "Fab 2" manufacturing facility in Austin.
Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images
And as far as the Silicon Valley lineup goes, Apple has had a presence in Austin for over two decades now. There are 7,000 workers currently employed by Apple in Austin.
Apple's campus in Austin, Texas, on December 13, 2018.
And there's potential for many more - 15,000 to be exact. Apple broke ground last year on a $1 billion campus in North Austin.
Apple's future campus plans are displayed in the current Austin, Texas, campus on December 13, 2018.
The new 3-million-square-foot campus will be less than a mile away from its current location that it opened in 2016, and will add an immediate 5,000 employees to Apple's existing 7,000 Austin workers.
And Apple isn't the only California company to have moved into the Texas city.
The Google Fiber Space at 201 Colorado St. in downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
Mountain View-based juggernaut Google entered Austin's tech ecosystem in 2007 with its acquisition of the email security and archiving service Postini.
The Google Fiber Space at 201 Colorado St. in downtown Austin.
A good portion of them work in Google's swanky new offices down the street from the Fiber space. Teams here work on everything from Android and G Suite operations to finance and marketing.
Google's offices at 500 West 2nd St. in downtown Austin, Texas.
The company snagged 300,000 square feet across five floors in this sky-scraping building, which opened in 2017.
Google's offices at 500 West 2nd St. in downtown Austin, Texas.
Right next door to it is a tower currently under construction, all 35 floors of which Google has leased, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.
Google's offices at 500 West 2nd St. in downtown Austin, Texas.
The 35-story tower will stand right next to the Austin Public Library. When the tower is complete, it will open up hundreds more Google jobs in the capital city.
The Austin Public Library.
Google's office is right smack in the middle of downtown, where many other companies have gravitated toward in recent years.
A view of downtown Austin from the Congress Avenue bridge.
There's the $2.9 billion co-working firm WeWork that has a handful of locations throughout the city.
The WeWork location at 600 Congress Ave. in downtown Austin, Texas.
Job site Indeed occupies 10 floors in a downtown office building, with more locations to the north of downtown in The Domain shopping center. There are more than 1,600 Indeed employees in Austin.
Indeed's downtown Austin office.
The $19 billion software maker Atlassian opened an Austin office in 2014 for its then-150-person team. The company now employs more than 400 people in its Austin office. And earlier this year, Atlassian said its employees can work from home permanently.
Atlassian occupies multiple floors in this high-rise at 303 Colorado St.
And thousands more are employed by other tech giants. Facebook has over 1,000 employees in the Austin area, Amazon has 5,600, and software company Oracle has 5,000 in its new waterfront campus.
Content moderators work at a Facebook office in Austin, Texas, in March 2019.
Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The newer tech fledglings have also sprouted up in recent years. Local Austin startups, including RigUp and DISCO, raised a collective $400 million in venture capital in January 2019.
Host Jacob Soboroff, left, speaks onstage at Startup Alley: Fastball Speed Pitches during the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 10, 2013 in Austin, Texas.
Tech accelerator Capital Factory specifically has injected thousands of dollars into Austin, fueling the city's tech reputation.
US President Barack Obama speaks with Capital Factory Founder Josh Baer, center, and US Chief Technology Officer Todd Park during a tour of Capital Factory.
The city's established tech sector has also helped attract the US Army. Austin was chosen out of 150 US cities to house its new high-tech futures command center.
US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, left, and Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville announce that Austin, Texas, will be the new headquarters for the Army Futures Command in 2018.
The unit's goal is to develop new defense technology - and it purposefully chose Austin in hopes that its "weirdness" culture could inspire some out-of-the-box thinking.
An art installation in downtown Austin.
...specifically, in the area's real estate market: Austin's median home value currently sits at $427,116, compared to the national average of $262,604.
The Frost Bank Tower in downtown Austin, Texas.
The blossoming tech presence has spurred an affordability crisis, just as it has in San Francisco. As tech companies and workers continue to pour into the city, demand and home prices have increased as a result...
Pedestrians in downtown Austin.
...so much so that Austin now has its first $1 million neighborhood, where the majority of homes boast an asking price of at least $1 million.
The neighborhood of Barton Creek in Austin, Texas.
The Barton Creek neighborhood has historically been one of the city's priciest zip codes and has seen its share of tech elite move in within the past couple of decades.
The neighborhood of Barton Creek in Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
Renters in the city don't have it much easier. The average price for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,284 a month, but that jumps to $1,992 in Downtown Austin.
A leasing office in downtown Austin.
And as more millennials, who usually rent instead of buy, flock to the city, the market will grow even more saturated, raising the rent in the process.
Home prices are projected to continue to rise as well, though at a more stable rate than in years prior...
A scooter rider scoots across Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge.
And Austin's considerably low cost of living, lower than in other tech-oriented cities, likely offers a nice reprieve for the transplanted workers.
You can snag an avocado toast at Modern Market in downtown Austin for $4.50.
A one-bedroom apartment in the city by the bay cost almost $3,280, but those prices have been dropping during the pandemic.
Apartment buildings in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood.
Granted, Silicon Valley salaries are the largest in the industry. But even for the highest-earning Bay Area tech workers, the area's cost of living ensures that property-owning and other aspects of a higher quality of life may remain just out of reach.
City-goers in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf district.
Austin's zoning restrictions are also more lax than San Francisco's, so developers have a better chance of keeping up with housing demand by building new inventory throughout the city.
New apartments sprouting up along South Congress in Austin, Texas.
Some of that inventory leans more toward luxury than affordable, like the Austonian downtown, where condos sell for anywhere between $1,490,000 and $6,995,000.
The Austonian in downtown Austin.
Though with so many high-earning techies in the city, there likely is a market for high-priced living.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
With a wealth divide comes a homelessness crisis, which Austin has been grappling with. Homeless encampments on city streets have grown more and more pronounced recently.
Daniel Webster, who is homeless, gets his head shaved at Lava Mae's Pop-Up Care Village, which offers medical care, hair cuts, make-up, showers and other care to people in need.
The city of Austin made it legal for homeless people to sleep and set up camps in public areas that aren't parks or sidewalks. The city council told Fox 7 Austin that helping to solve the homeless crisis in Austin was its No. 1 priority for 2019.
Jennifer, who is homeless, gets her hair cut at Lava Mae's Pop-Up Care Village.
Another side effect of Austin's growing tech presence is the industry's pervasive culture, which has brought a bout of change to the fabric of the city.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
Case in point: electric scooters.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
In April 2018, California-based electric scooter startups Bird and Lime illegally dropped hundreds of the dockless vehicles onto the streets of Austin before the city could impose regulations.
And now, the city is crawling with licensed scooters, with locals and tourists alike taking to them to get around town.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
Iconic Austin sites are speckled with them...
Katie Canales/Business Insider
...like the "i love you so much" wall in the South Congress district.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
Younger workers will likely continue to make up Austin's workforce, especially with the nearby University of Texas serving as a talent pool for companies seeking to recruit freshly minted tech workers.
A student on the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas.
But job opportunities are just one of the drivers bringing millennials to Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
Austin also has vast music, art, food, and adventure scenes - all of which have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bangers in Austin's Rainey Street district is known for its beer selection.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
The Live Music Capital of The World usually provides an endless stream of concerts throughout the city year-round.
A band plays on the patio of Craft Pride in Austin's Rainey Street district.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theatre is famous for its shows, like The Shins in 2012.
The Shins play in Austin's Moody Theatre in 2012.
There are also annual music festivals, like Austin City Limits every fall.
The atmosphere during Austin City Limits Festival at Zilker Park on October 14, 2018 in Austin, Texas.
And South by Southwest, an annual music festival that kicked off in 1987, is held every March. The event was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Johnny Cash performs at South by Southwest Music Festival in March 1994 in Austin, Texas.
Since its inception, SXSW has evolved from a music-only event and to include, among other things, a prominent tech conference, where techies and startups discuss industry trends and new innovations.
CEO of YouTube Susan Wojcicki and Nicholas Thompson speak onstage at Navigating the Video Revolution in the Digital Age during SXSW on March 13, 2018 in Austin, Texas.
For adventurous folk, there's Barton Springs Pool, the Greenbelt, and plenty of outdoor spaces.
Kayakers on Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin.
Elizabeth W. Kearley/Contributor/Getty Images
But it's Austin's bar and eatery scene that keeps Austinites entertained morning to night.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
There's the city's Sixth Street stretch in downtown Austin.
Shakespeare's Pub on Austin's Sixth Street.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
Not far away is Rainey Street, a drag of historic houses turned into bungalow bars.
Katie Canales/Business Insider
And Austin's East Side, although having been increasingly gentrified in recent years as a result of the influx of workers, also sports a hip bar scene.
Cenote cafe in East Austin.
