Jeff Stein

A photo of some Washington Post staffers accepting an award

The @washingtonpost.com won a Loeb Award for best international reporting last night for "The Money War," our 2024 series on unintended consequences of the massive rise in U.S. financial sanctions — great to celebrate with @jeffstein.bsky.social, @foianate.bsky.social, @federicacocco.bsky.social

Statement from @postguild.bsky.social on the firing of Karen Attiah:

Trump agencies halt environmental, health projects in Black communities The Trump administration has canceled nearly two dozen projects, according to a Post analysis, undermining efforts on pollution, sewage leaks and flooding.

Excellent coverage about how the Trump administration has axed nearly two dozen projects addressing health and environmental issues in Southern Black communities

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

looks great!!

I am writing a book about Bernie Sanders And it's going to be really good

Some personal news: I am taking leave from The Washington Post for at least 5 months to write the definitive biography of Bernie Sanders

It's going to be a fascinating read about The Big Questions in America & you wont want to miss it; sign up to follow along

open.substack.com/pub/jeffstei...

Senate GOP tax bill includes largest cut to U.S. safety net in decades The Senate Republican tax bill speeding to passage includes the biggest reduction of funding for the federal safety net since at least the 1990s.

“No question — this is definitely the biggest cut. It’s the biggest rollback in federal support for health care ever”
the incomparable @larrylevitt.bsky.social

“You can very safely say this is the biggest cut to programs for low-income Americans ever”
me

@jeffstein.bsky.social on what's at stake

BREAKING: +11 million people at risk of losing health insurance via Medicaid under new tax bill #politics #trump #congress #healthcare @We are a newspaper. TikTok video by Jeff Stein

Health care of 11.8 million at risk in GOP tax bill
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8rK4eP9/

NEW: The US is giving up on taxing large inheritances. The GOP tax bill permanently raises the threshold so up to $15 million — $30M for couples — can get passed on tax free. #taxes #trump #us #gove... TikTok video by Jeff Stein

NEW: The US is effectively giving up on taxing large inheritances

GOP bill would permanently raise to $15 million - $30M for couples - amount that can be passed on tax free

Estate tax already reaches 1/4 of the households it did in 1934, when US was much smaller

www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8rf51c9/

GOP rejects ‘millionaire tax’ pitch, advancing breaks for rich Americans Legislation moving through Congress includes significant breaks for the affluent as the House rebuffs President Donald Trump’s suggestions.

GOP rejects ‘millionaire tax’ pitch, advancing breaks for rich Americans

"The biggest beneficiaries of the bill would be those earning between $460,800 and $1.1 million per year"

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

U.S. pushes nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink, cables show Some countries have turned to the satellite internet firm in preparation for trade talks, State Department staffers wrote. The U.S. has a strategic interest in countering Chinese internet providers, b...

Scoop: We've obtained internal cables showing how the U.S. government is pushing countries facing tariffs to clear way for Musk's Starlink

State Dept says it's good to encourage Starlink adoption

Others point to blurring of Musk's private/government roles ...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

U.S. agencies alarmed by China’s curbs on exports of rare-earth minerals Beijing’s curbs on rare earth exports, used to make military drones, consumer electronics, electric cars and more, have caused alarm across federal agencies.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Scoop: Senior aides across Trump admin holding high-level meetings over China curbs on rare earths critical to huge range of U.S. economic activity

Deep concern about impact; no easy answers

Companies relying on reserves that wont last forever

May help explain Trump blink

Bannon: Elon Musk should be required to submit a certified inventory of all the fraud and waste he found while in government, and there should be full disclosure of any non-governmental entities to have obtained sensitive federal data through DOGE

Top Trump aides urged president to tone down attacks on Jerome Powell The president’s about-face on the central bank chief, following advice from his treasury and commerce secretaries, sent markets surging.

President Trump’s abrupt shift in rhetoric Tuesday toward Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell reflected the private lobbying of some of his senior advisers, who urged the president to back off his incendiary attacks.

For @thedodgemag.bsky.social I wrote a meditative short story about deer hunting (or about the pleasures of simply waiting in the woods, as the case may be). Big thanks to @addisonzeller.bsky.social for giving this piece a home. www.thedodgemag.com/sephmurtagh1

If BlueSky aware that over on Twitter a bunch of finance type accounts spread a fake rumor that the WH was considering a 90 day tariff pause, after which markets rose, and then the WH came out and called it fake news, after which markets sank

I feel for the Silicon Valley & Wall Street types surprised by Trump’s tariffs. Who could have even thought to pay attention to his speeches, the positions on his website, hundreds of newspaper articles, or nationally televised debates. The information was practically impossible to come by

I do think one amusing thing is that all the industry titans thought if they got on Trump's good side they could protect their own companies, which of course discounted the possibility they could be simultaneously crushed

“He’s at the peak of just not giving a f--- anymore,” said a White House official with knowledge of Trump’s thinking. “Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f---. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.”

Inside President Trump’s whirlwind decision to blow up global trade Why did Trump impose tariffs? Inside the advice that shaped his decision.

SCOOP: Trump personally selected now widely-mocked formula for determining country-specific tariffs from a menu

Numerous aides had for weeks been at work crafting country-specific tariffs that took into account a broad range of tariff & non-tariff barriers

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

JPMorgan raises recession odds for this year to 60% Tariffs from the Trump administration make a global recession more likely than not, according to JPMorgan.

JPMorgan raises recession odds to ***60%***
www.cnbc.com/2025/04/04/j...

Tfw you have erected tariff and non tariff barriers

All within a few hours -->

Howard Lutnick: “I don’t think there’s any chance Trump is going to back off his tariff"

Peter Navarro: “This is not a negotiation"

Donald Trump: "The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”

have you actually read my reporting

Internal White House talking points: Tariffs are not up for negotiation Investors and global leaders have been trying to understand the purpose of sprawling new import duties.

Internal White House talking points tell advisers not to suggest that the "reciprocal" tariffs are up for negotiation, @jeffstein.bsky.social and Natalie Allison report www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

I know I’ve been tweeting about this a lot but what’s striking to me is not just that Wall Street so badly underestimated downside risk — it’s that they piled all-in on post-election euphoria that assumed, contrary to all reporting, the tariffs wouldn’t happen

50% tariffs on the roughly 6,000 people who live in Saint Pierre and Miquelon

Trump says the US was proportionally the richest it ever was in late 1880s/early 1900s, before in 1913 establishing the federal income tax "for reasons unknown to mankind" (??), which led to the Great Depression, which "would never have happened if they stayed with the tariff policy" (???)

Crazy chart from @josephpolitano.bsky.social

Shapley’s appointment is a significant shift for the tax agency — which has historically had two political appointees, its commissioner and chief counsel — and a large promotion for Shapley, who has less experience in Washington than his predecessors, current and former officials said. He will now oversee more than 2,000 employees; he was responsible for about 75 before. His appointment has startled some of those officials, who fear it reveals that a partisan agenda for tax investigations could be coming — or that it could have the appearance of politicizing an agency that has previously been implicated in partisan scandals. Congress trained additional scrutiny on the IRS after Nixon’s administration used it to collect information about perceived enemies. Abuse of the tax system was one of the articles of impeachment filed against Nixon in 1974, though he resigned before impeachment proceeded.

Like many things we've covered at the IRS, this is a sea change.

Tax administration is supposed to be non-political.

Tax *investigations* are supposed to be super non-political.

And tax *criminal investigations* are supposed to be walled off from anything remotely political.