Apr 20, 2017

Mnuchin backtracks again on his tax plan

Soeren Stache / AP

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin today said that the White House would unveil its comprehensive tax reform plan "very soon," just days after telling The Financial Times that releasing a plan by August's congressional recess would be "highly aggressive to not realistic."

What changed? President Trump gave a speech in between Mnuchin's conflicting statements, saying that the White House has "the concept of the plan" and that "we're going to be announcing it very soon."

Market reaction: U.S. markets jumped following Mnuchin's comments today. Then again, those same markets also rose after Mnuchin's prior statement, suggesting that the prospect of tax reform isn't really driving trades in the first place.

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Fadel Allassan

4 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Biden: George Floyd's last words are "a wake-up call for our nation"

Former Vice President Joe Biden meets with clergy members and community activists during a visit to Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Del. on June 1, 2020. Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Joe Biden will call George Floyd’s dying words “a wake-up call for our nation,” and criticize President Trump’s decision to unleash tear gas on peaceful protesters outside the White House, in a civil rights speech from Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Biden in the address will seek to draw a sharp contrast between himself and Trump, whose first remarks addressing nationwide unrest Monday highlighted law and order, extreme demonstrations of militarized “strength” and other blustery threats.

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Ben Geman

15 mins ago - Energy & Environment

The alarm over climate financial risk gets louder because of coronavirus

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores why market regulators, companies and investors should do a better job planning for climate risks to the financial system, a pair of reports finds.

Driving the news: The International Monetary Fund said projected increases in the frequency and severity of natural disasters are a potential threat that investors probably aren't weighing enough.

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Ina Fried

16 mins ago - Technology

Facebook's first major public worker walkout

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Disgruntled Facebook employees, upset for days over the company's decision not to take down what they saw as calls for violence from President Trump, made their grievances public on Monday, with reportedly hundreds of workers staging a virtual walkout.

Why it matters: Facebook staffers have pushed back against controversial management choices in the past, but they've never before made public their dissent en masse. The protest suggests that the company — already battered by privacy scandals and political tensions — could be beginning to lose at least some of its workforce's trust.

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