Week InReview
Friday | Apr 23, 2021
A post-pandemic 'third way' of working
Illustration: Dominika Lipniewska
After more than a year of remote work, the future looks hybrid: a mix of office and home-based working. The hope in many companies is that this sort of working pattern will allow employees to do focused work at home, reduce commutes, and enable them to better balance professional and personal lives. In turn, offices will become a destination for innovation, collaboration, networking, coaching, and socializing. But it's going to be hard for businesses to navigate well.

— Financial Times
let's recap...
Photo: Bloomberg
U.S. President Joe Biden will propose almost doubling the capital gains tax rate on the rich to fund programs aimed in part at rectifying historic economic inequality. For those earning $1 million or more, the new top rate, coupled with an existing surtax on investment income, means federal tax rates for wealthy investors could be as high as 43.4%. U.S. stocks had their biggest slide in five weeks. The dollar advanced. (Bloomberg Politics | Apr 22)

U.S. regulators will consider tougher disclosure requirements for investment firms after this year’s implosion of Archegos Capital Management and trading gyrations in GameStop. SEC officials are exploring how to increase transparency for the types of derivative bets that sank Archegos, the family office of billionaire trader Bill Hwang. Among issues the SEC is evaluating are whether position filings should include derivatives and shorts, and if firms should submit such filings more frequently than every three months. (Bloomberg Markets | Apr 22)

The Securities and Exchange Commission will consider the extent to which public companies report their greenhouse gas emissions in response to investor demands for greater transparency, according to the acting director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. (Bloomberg Law | Apr 21)

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen laid out the department’s plans to mobilize the U.S. economy against climate change. In a speech to the International Institute of Finance, Yellen insisted that the U.S. must take an ambitious approach to fighting climate change through the economy despite the challenges of measuring and curbing the economic and financial risks it poses. (The Hill | Apr 21)

If President Biden is to implement his ambitious economic agenda, he will have to rely on a beleaguered arm of the government: the Internal Revenue Service. A turnaround takes more than money. The agency is a collections company, police force, law firm, financial institution, call center and high-security information-technology shop rolled into one. And it operates with political constraints no private company faces. (The Wall Street Journal | Apr 20)
Smaller delegations, less clout: states brace for census report
(Apr 20) — States will soon learn if they’re going to gain or lose ground in the House of Representatives and in presidential elections.

By the end of next week, the U.S. Census Bureau will release the first official results of the 2020 Census: the state population counts that will redistribute the 435 House seats, and lock in that configuration for the next five congressional elections, from 2022 to 2030.

Because the House membership is fixed by law, states with above-average population growth will win House seats – and gain more clout in Congress – at the expense of states that were slower-growing or losing population.

Projections show that states in the South and West will once again gain seats, and the Northeast and industrial Midwest will continue its decades-long contraction.

Source: Bloomberg Government
the cyber cafe
DOJ's criminal, national security and civil divisions will take part in the ransomware task force.
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WSJ
Worst year ever
In a bid to make the popular extortion schemes less lucrative by targeting the entire digital ecosystem that supports them, the Department of Justice has formed a task force to curtail the proliferation of ransomware cyberattacks. The task force will consist of the DOJ’s criminal, national security and civil divisions, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys. It will also work to boost collaboration with the private sector, international partners, and other federal agencies such as the Treasury and Homeland Security departments.

Power play: U.S. to protect power grid from foreign hackers
A Department of Energy plan to shore up the cybersecurity of the power grid will impose restrictions on electric equipment from countries such as China and Russia. The effort is part of a broader 100-day plan to improve utilities’ defenses, including by encouraging companies to sharpen their ability to monitor their information-technology networks and detect threats.

Zero trust, basic cyber hygiene best defense
Rather than entrust third-party suppliers to keep their supply chain secured, organizations should adopt a zero trust security strategy and establish basic cyber hygiene to safeguard their data.
— ZDNet
binge reading disorder
Illustration: Yann Bastard/Bloomberg Businessweek
Tips from high performers on banging out those boring work tasks
In any job – even ones we love – there are uninspiring tasks we either ignore or move from one day’s to-do list to the next. But there are better ways of approaching this drudgery. We asked founders and other executives how they get stuff done.

All New England states named among top 10 snobbiest, with Massachusetts ranking first
New England is apparently full of snobby people, especially in Massachusetts, according to a new study. Zippia determined which states were the snobbiest by analyzing the percent of population with a bachelor’s degree, percent of degree earners with a degree in arts and humanities, number of Ivy League colleges, and gallons of wine consumed yearly. Massachusetts ranked first overall, with Zippia saying, the Bay State “is ridiculously more educated than the rest of the country and has a strong appreciation for wine.”
— WHDH

The future of travel in the Covid-19 era
Airlines, airports, cruise lines, and hotels will all need to develop and adhere to new guidelines about social distancing, cleaning, and food service. Transparency, which hasn’t been the industry’s strongest suit – think ineffective travel insurance policies and cryptic passenger protection rules – will become essential. And companies will need to shift pricing to accommodate fewer travelers at once, which might make your summer vacation a costly proposition, if it happens at all.
— Bloomberg
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