The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour since 2009, which works out to just about $15,000 per year at 40-hour weeks. Congress is now debating an increase to $15 per hour as part of the next round of economic stimulus, but there is plenty of opposition. Dan and Axios chief financial correspondent Felix Salmon dig into the economics and politics of the federal minimum wage, on which it seems everyone has an opinion.
The most significant stock market story of 2021 isn’t Robinhood and Reddit. It’s SPACs, blank check acquisition companies used to take private companies public. Dan talks with Victoria Grace, CEO of a $300 million SPAC called Queen's Gambit Growth Capital, about how SPACs work, why there are so many of them right now and if it's a bubble.
Three quarters of America’s K-12 public schools are either closed or partially closed right now. Even if the White House manages to unstick the vaccine bottlenecks and get a new economic stimulus passed with money for in-school COVID-19 testing and HVAC updates, ultimately, schools being open or closed comes down to negotiations between local school departments and their teachers unions. Dan digs into negotiations, what will happen this semester once teachers have vaccination access, and what ne...
Clubhouse has become social media's newest darling, eschewing text and visuals for an audio-only experience whereby users can hear discussions on a multitude of topics, plus even the occasional 40-person Broadway musical performance. Dan goes deeper into what Clubhouse is, why it matters and where social media goes from here with Katie Stanton, an early Clubhouse investor whose resume includes time at Twitter, Google and the Obama White House.
Tampa Bay defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh will be on the field this Sunday, trying to win his Buccaneers a championship. Off the field, Suh has been quietly building a business empire that has nothing to do with sacks or touchdown dances. Dan speaks to Suh about the trend of pro athletes forming non-sports careers well before retirement, his thoughts about the big game and his favorite NFL quarterback to hit.
Jeff Bezos this week announced plans to retire as CEO of Amazon, which he founded and helped turn into one of the world's most successful and significant companies. Dan digs into what’s next for Bezos and for Amazon — and Bezos’ place in the innovators pantheon — with Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson, a former Time Magazine editor who put Bezos on the cover in 1999 and who more recently penned the forward to a collection of Bezos’ writings.
The GameStop stock saga was mostly viewed through the lens of small retail investors finally putting one over on big hedge fund managers. Dan speaks with Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates, to get his perspective on the past week and whether it reflects a fundamental rot in the stock market and broader economy.
The House Financial Services Committee on Feb. 18 will hold a hearing titled “Game Stopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors Collide." Among those expected to testify is Vlad Tenev, CEO of stock trading app Robinhood. Dan speaks with Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the committee's ranking Republican, on what he hopes to learn and what legislation or regulation might follow.
American labor has long been stratified into blue collar and white collar, although the hues have never shone so brightly as they have during the pandemic. Dan digs into our changing relationship with work and what might come once things get back to “normal” with Sarah Jaffe, author of “Work Won’t Love You back.”
Americans fortunate enough to receive vaccines right now, outside of clinical trials, are getting ones made by either Pfizer or Moderna. But newly released data from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson suggests that more vaccines could be on the way. Dan digs into the news and why it matters, especially as COVID-19 variants begin to spread, with Tom Frieden, former head of the CDC.
Big Tech is something all Americans use and most Americans complain about, no matter their political affiliation. Dan discusses the Biden administration's top Big Tech priorities, the debate over Section 230 and Reddit day trading with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
Robert Downey Jr. today announced the launch of two venture capital funds focused on startups in the sustainability sector, as the actor seems to have taken some of his Tony Stark character to heart. Dan digs into this instance of life imitating art with Downey and two of his partners at Footprint Coalition to better understand their plans and mission.
Wall Street is locked in a battle of will between professional investors who live in Greenwich and amateur investors who congregate on Reddit. So far, the amateurs are winning, judging by increases in their chosen stocks, like GameStop and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Dan digs into what's really happening, the mechanics of stock "shorting" and what it means for the markets' future, with Axios chief financial correspondent Felix Salmon.
Google on Monday became the latest Big Tech company to get involved with COVID-19 vaccinations. Not just by doing things like incorporating vaccination sites into its maps, but by helping to turn some of its offices and parking lots into vaccination sites. Dan goes deeper into what Google is doing, and why now, with Dr. Karen DeSalvo, Google's chief health officer who previously worked at HHS and as health commissioner for New Orleans.
President Biden has said that getting Americans vaccinated for COVID-19 is his administration’s top priority, following an initial rollout that has been beset by organizational, logistical and technical glitches. Axios Re:Cap digs into the bottlenecks and how to unclog them with Carbon Health CEO Eren Bali, whose company recently began helping to manage vaccinations in Los Angeles.
Federal net neutrality rules are back on the table in the Biden administration, after being nixed by Trump — but now might be complicated by the debate over social media company behavior. Dan digs into why net neutrality matters and what comes next with Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge and host of the Decoder podcast.
Joe Biden was sworn in today as America's 46th president in an inauguration unlike any other in modern history. Dan goes deeper into the speech, the atmosphere and what it all tells us about the incoming administration, with Axios political reporters Hans Nichols and Alexi McCammond.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was recently arrested in Moscow, just months after being poisoned in an assassination attempt, in what could become Joe Biden’s first major foreign policy test. Dan speaks with Bill Browder, an investor and author who has his own history of clashing with Putin, to better understand the Navalny situation and how the U.S. might respond by using a law that Browder helped create.
In part one of How It Happened: Trump's Last Stand, Axios political correspondent Jonathan Swan draws a direct line from President Trump's Election Night speech, in which he falsely declared victory, to the insurrection on the Capitol on January 6. But, but, but: The story really starts in early October, as Trump is recovering from COVID-19 and struggling to turn around a flailing campaign. New episodes out each Monday. In the meantime, subscribe to our daily news shows, Axios Today and Axios Re...
America has become a two-vaccine nation, but plenty of other companies are continuing to work on new vaccines that could increase supply and accelerate the country's goal of herd immunity. Dan digs into the vaccine pipeline with Derek Lowe, a medicinal chemist and biotech blogger.
Affirm, a “buy now pay later” company led by PayPal co-founder and former CEO Max Levchin, went public today at a valuation of nearly $15 billion – and then saw its share price more than double. Dan goes deeper with Levchin to discuss the IPO, the future of fintech and the role of payments processors.
Social media platform Parler is currently offline after being booted from Amazon's cloud hosting service. The move came just days after Parler was also removed from the Apple and Android app stores for allegedly violating terms of service related to violent threats on its platform. Dan digs into what happened at Parler, including the latest news that much of its content and metadata were scraped and publicly posted, with New York Times cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth.
Bitcoin exchange and digital wallet company Bakkt announced plans to go public via a SPAC, in a marriage of two of Wall Street's hottest trends. Dan speaks with new Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael to discuss the company, the deal and if this move will codify cryptocurrencies as part of mainstream American finance.
As the pandemic strengthens, America's labor market weakens, based on the latest monthly jobs report that showed a loss of 140,000 nonfarm payrolls. Dan discusses the numbers, what they really mean and where things could go next with Axios business reporters Courtenay Brown and Felix Salmon.
Much of what happened yesterday on Capitol Hill was not only predictable, but explicitly planned on Internet message boards where the MAGA movement gets the most darkly conspiratorial. Dan digs into what led to yesterday's insurrection and what comes next with NBC News' Ben Collins, who covers online disinformation, and Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights attorney Arusha Gordon, who is leading a lawsuit against the Proud Boys.
America's vaccination rollout is going much slower than expected, with only around 5 million vaccinations to date. Meanwhile, COVID-19 is causing record hospitalizations and deaths, with much of the country's economic and educational engine stuck in neutral. Dan digs into what's gone wrong and what happens next with STAT News senior reporter Helen Branswell.
Congress on Wednesday will be asked to certify state electors, thus setting the stage for Joe Biden's inauguration as the country's 46th president on Jan. 20. But, like so many things in the Trump era, it won't be business as usual, as large groups of House and Senate Republicans say they will object to electors from at least four states. Dan discusses the process and the precedent with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee who will lead her party's res...
President Trump and his allies have continued to baselessly rail against Dominion Voting Systems, whose machines will be used tomorrow in the Georgia runoff elections that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. Axios Re:Cap speaks with Dominion founder and CEO John Poulos about the controversies, the death threats and the "imminent" lawsuit his company plans to file.
In August, Dan dug into middle class myths and realities with Jim Tankersley, a New York Times economics reporter and author of the book "The Riches of This Land." In many ways, it’s the story of why so many in the middle class were already on the edge before the pandemic began.
2020 was the year special purpose acquisition companies — SPACS — went mainstream. We revisit the rise of SPACs via Dan’s July conversation with Wall Street titan Bill Ackman, who was ahead of his time in 2012 when he used a SPAC to bring Burger King public.
