What Does Joe Manchin Want? | Elon & The IRS | America’s Top Charities

Plus: Airbnb’s $10 Billion Engineer Is Tackling The Lodging Giant’s Toughest Projects

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The White House and Democrats are again left puzzling over whether Joe Manchin would support even a scaled-backed social spending bill in the new year after the West Virginia Senator dramatically pulled the plug on President Biden’s Build Back Better Act. Elon Musk took a break from his Twitter feuds to share that he likely will pay an $11 billion tax bill this year, while Forbes charts America’s top 100 charities. And finally, meet Airbnb’s data whiz who turned a one-time couch surfing app into a $110 billion lodging and travel powerhouse.

In The News Today

A third dose of the Moderna vaccine can boost Covid-19 antibodies 37-fold and could offer significant protection against the Omicron variant, according to the U.S. pharmaceutical company, which continues to work on a booster jab tailored for the fast-spreading new strain.

Tennis star Peng Shuai has denied making accusations of sexual assault against a former senior Chinese leader in her first foreign media interview, but concerns about her safety and well-being remain.

Top Take-Aways

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Sunday said that he will pay more than $11 billion in taxes this year after a week of sparring on Twitter with Senator Elizabeth Warren. That comes after the electric car-maker’s flagging share price last week shaved around $20 billion from the fortune of the world’s richest person.

President Joe Biden’s massive $2 trillion Build Back Better spending package appears doomed after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), a key vote and longtime obstacle to the bill, said Sunday on Fox News he would not support it, prompting the White House to bemoan his “inexplicable reversal” and vow to “find a way to move forward next year.”

Four dozen passengers and crew tested positive for Covid-19 at the end of a recent Royal Caribbean cruise. But breakthrough cases happen so routinely on cruise ships these days, it’s become something of a trend and the cruise line says trips would continue as scheduled but with tougher masking rules.

Amid a surge of infections around the world linked with the new variant, a fresh crop of antiviral medications and the “world’s pharmacy” India’s vast generic drug manufacturers could be key to controlling new outbreaks in areas that lack access to vaccines. 

With the Dow Jones and S&P 500 set to end the year at close to all-time highs, here are the stocks that top-performing fund managers say are primed to power returns through 2022.

If you think your portfolio has done well over the last year, well meet the ten billionaires who got the richest in dollar terms in 2021. The tech-dominated all-male club added tens of billions of dollars to their net worth in a year wracked by the pandemic and supply chain issues.

Today's Must Read

In Case You Missed It

Celebrity charities have a decidedly mixed track record. But the New York City-based Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research demonstrates how the power of celebrity, when combined with disciplined and steady management, can do good on a sustained basis. The Fox Foundation earned its first-ever spot on the Forbes annual list of the U.S.’s 100 top charities thanks to a mega donation from Google’s Sergey Brin.

Tips You Can Trust

Downsizings, missed promotions, and corporate politics can at times weigh on even the most glittering of careers. Adversity is a fact of life and these three factors can help turn lemons into lemonade.

The pandemic and hybrid work has left many working women feeling burnt out. If you are one of them, here are strategies for staying in the workforce, or avoiding a career downshift.

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