A Biden cabinet pick to watch

This week's top headlines: Google sidelined a second outspoken critic at the company. Black Londoners are six times more likely to be stopped in a car than a White person, and the city's mayor has had enough. In New York, the NYPD adopted clearer penalties for cops who use racial profiling or "excessive deadly force."   Before President Joe Biden officially took office Wednesday afternoon, he announced a flurry of executive orders, setting the tone for his administration's priorities from day one. Among those, were a series of actions aimed at fighting inequality. They were a signal of what's to come -- Biden has made all sorts of promise to tackle racism and discrimination -- but also so very light on detail.  There was one proposal, however, that stuck out to me. Biden said he would direct the Office of Management and Budget to more equitably allocate federal resources to support communities of color and other marginalized groups. The order didn't give much more detail, provide metrics or explain how that would result in greater equality, exactly.  But we know two things: The OMB's main task is managing the federal budget and Biden has tapped Neera Tanden to run the agency. If approved by the Senate, Tanden, who is Indian-American, will join the most diverse cabinet in history. Republicans had said they would oppose her nomination calling her a "hard-edged partisan," among other things. (She is not shy on Twitter.) But that was before the Democrats gained control of the Senate.  Neera Tanden in 2017.  Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Tanden, a longtime Clinton family ally who worked on both Bill and Hillary's presidential campaigns, helped draft the Affordable Care Act as a senior advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services secretary at the time. She also helped found the left-leaning Washington think tank Center for American Progress in 2003 and has served as its leader since 2011.  The organization publishes research and advocates on hallmark liberal issues, including studying how policy impacts systemic inequality, including the yawning wealth gap between White and Black Americans. Tanden was raised by a single mother who sometimes relied on federal housing assistance and food stamps to get by. The job she's up for usually goes to someone "enmeshed in the intricacies of the congressional budgeting process," as my colleagues have written. But with Tanden and his executive order, Biden is signaling he wants to go in a different direction for the agency.  Follow Us Get the newsletter By the Numbers People in the poorest areas of England are dying from Covid-19 at almost three times the rate of those in the least deprived districts. Data published on Monday underline the disproportionate health impact of the pandemic, with places such as Liverpool in northern England and the London borough of Newham being hit hardest. Experts say contributory factors include overcrowding, employment in jobs more exposed to the virus and poor underlying health. Before You Go An Oakland project has a new strategy to tackle barriers to capital for Black businesses: Monthly cash payments, no strings.  Another great American institution is struggling with its fraught history on race. Netflix's vice president of inclusion strategy discusses "Bridgerton" and how diversity behind the camera helped drive its success.   Like getting the Bloomberg Equality newsletter? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert analysis from exclusive subscriber-only newsletters. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more.   You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Equality newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022