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Reposted by Georges IJff

Hayes Brown

@hayesbrown.bsky.social

Oh we are so cooked

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...

Private equity firms have been struggling to deliver on their core business model of taking on debt, buying companies and selling them for a profit. Several years of high interest rates have made it too expensive for many would-be buyers to purchase companies with debt, and private equity firms are contending with a backlog of more than 31,000 unsold companies, a record amount. Deal activity picked up toward the end of this year, but not enough to make a significant dent in the backlog.
Continuation vehicles are providing a short-term solution by allowing firms to sell the companies to themselves, book a paper gain and wait for interest rates to improve.

Private equity firms have been turning to this strategy more frequently. The dollar value of continuation vehicles across the industry is expected to total $100 billion or more by the end of 2025, up from about $35 billion in 2019, according to the investment bank Evercore.
Private equity is one of the biggest parts of the global economy, with more than $7 trillion in investors' money, and some of those investors are getting increasingly worried that strategies like continuation vehicles are putting off a painful reckoning.

December 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM

Reposted by Georges IJff

Metje van Elten

@metjevanelten.bsky.social

Jeroen Pauw sluit de discussie over boycot van/sancties tegen de Israëlische regering kleinerend af richting Laurens Dassen: “Je denkt toch niet écht hè, dat Nederland hier iets in kan betekenen?”
Dassen pareert hem subliem: “We zijn de grootste handelspartner v Israël, dus kunnen juist veel doen”.

September 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM

Reposted by Georges IJff

Laurens Dassen

@laurensdassen.voltnederland.org

Anderhalf jaar zette dit kibbelkabinet ons land stil, en werd Nederland minder groen, minder eerlijk, en minder veilig.
Maar mijn belangrijkste boodschap is dit: Vandaag pakken we onze toekomst terug.

June 3, 2025 at 7:38 AM

Reposted by Georges IJff

Amy Hoy

@amyhoy.bsky.social

guess where they got their weird trade deficit math from?

i went to the pit for y'all and brought back the screenshots with alt text

chatgpt log:

What would be an easy way to calculate the tariffs that should be imposed on other countries so that the US is on even-playing fields when it comes to trade deficit? Set minimum at 10%.
Reasoned about trade tariffs and deficits for 10 seconds v
A straightforward (if naïve) method is to set the tariff rate for each trading partner equal to the percentage share of the trade deficit relative to that country's total imports-always no less than 10%. In formula form:
Tariff Rate (%) = max(10, (Trade Deficit ÷ Total Imports) *
100)
For example, if the US runs a $20 billion deficit on $100 billion worth of imports from a country, the calculated rate is (20/100)×100 = 20%. If the deficit were only 5%, you'd still impose a 10% floor.
This method ignores the intricate dynamics of international trade-such as elasticities, retaliatory measures, and supply chain nuances-but it provides a blunt, proportional rule to "level the playing field." One might implement it in Python like so:

[code]

Gemini answer:

Okay, let's break down the idea of using tariffs to achieve an "even playing field" defined as eliminating the US trade deficit.
While the goal of balancing trade is understandable, devising an "easy way" to calculate tariffs to achieve this is extremely complex, and most economists would argue it's not feasible or desirable for several reasons.
However, let's outline a highly simplified conceptual approach based only on the numbers, ignoring the vast real-world complexities and consequences:
Simplified (and Problematic) Calculation Idea:
1. Identify the Bilateral Deficit: Determine the trade deficit the US has with a specific country (Country X).
Deficit_X = Value of Imports from X - Value of
• Exports to X
2. Target Reduction: The goal is to reduce imports from Country X (or increase their cost to US buyers) by the amount of the deficit, so that the value effectively balances out.
3. Calculate Required Tariff (Ignoring Economics):
• If you assume, very unrealistically, that a tariff directly reduces the value of imports by a corresponding percentage (which it doesn't
- it increases the price), you could try:
Required Reduction % = Deficit_X / Value of
• Imports from X

Claude:

What would be an easy way to calculate the tariffs that should be imposed on other countries so that the US is on even-playing fields when it comes to trade deficit? Set minimum at 10%.
To calculate tariffs that could theoretically level the playing field for trade deficits, I'd suggest a straightforward approach based on the trade imbalance percentage:
1. Calculate the bilateral trade deficit with each trading partner: Trade Deficit - US Imports from Country - US
Exports to Country
2. Express this as a percentage of total bilateral trade: Deficit Percentage - (Trade Deficit / Total Bilateral Trade) × 100
3. Apply a tariff rate that corresponds to this percentage, with
your minimum 10% floor: Tariff Rate = max(Deficit
Percentage, 10%)
This creates a proportional response where countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher tariffs.
For example:
• If Country A has a 25% trade surplus with the US (meaning the US has a 25% deficit), apply a 25% tariff
• If Country B has a 5% trade surplus with the US, apply the minimum 10% tariff
This method is relatively simple to calculate and directly ties tariff levels to trade imbalances. However, I should note that economists generally caution that trade deficits alone don't necessarily indicate unfair trade practices, and tariffs can have complex economic consequences including increased consumer prices and potential retaliation.
Would you like me to elaborate on any part of this approach or discuss potential refinements to make it more sophisticated?

Grok:

the deficit. The deficit as a percentage of total trade is
$295B/$582B = 50.69%. Using the formula Tariff% = 10% +
(Deficit% × Scaling Factor), we choose a scaling factor of 50 for illustration:
• Tariff = 10% + (50.69% × 50) = 10% + 25.345% = 35.345%, rounded to 35.3%.
This means a 35.3% tariff on Chinese goods could be proposed to offset the imbalance, aiming to reduce imports and encourage domestic production or exports.
Extending to Other Countries
To provide a broader view, here's a table of top US trading partners with 2024 deficits, using data from The Motley Fool and similar calculations (assuming scaling factor of 50 for consistency):

[data table headings]
Country

Deficit
(USD
Billion)

Total
Trade
(USD
Billion)
Deficit %

Calculate d Tariff %

China
-295
582
50.69%
35.3%

Mexico
-172
840
20.48%
20.2%

Vietnam
-123
(Data incomplet e, estimate)
~30%
25.0%

Ireland
-87
(Data incomplet e, estimate)
~25%
22.5%

Germany
-85
(Data incomplete estimate)
~20%
20.0%

April 3, 2025 at 12:42 AM

Reposted by Georges IJff

RTL Nieuws

@rtl.nl

RTL Nieuws-correspondent Sophie Van Leeuwen aangehouden in Sierra Leone #nieuws

RTL Nieuws-correspondent Sophie Van Leeuwen aangehouden in Sierra Leone

RTL Nieuws Afrikacorrespondent Sophie van Leeuwen is vandaag bij een checkpoint nabij Freetown in Sierra Leone aangehouden en meegenomen naar haar guesthouse voor verhoor. Ze zou worden verdacht voor het onrechtmatig vastleggen van beeld.

www.rtl.nl

February 13, 2025 at 6:49 PM

Georges IJff

@ijff.bsky.social

Het enige jaaroverzicht dat er toe doet. Elk jaar weer.

WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · Dec 31

The Dogs of 2024
youtu.be/yKcQScxYdYM?...

The Dogs of 2024

YouTube video by WeRateDogs

youtu.be

December 31, 2024 at 6:15 PM

Georges IJff

@ijff.bsky.social

Als je discriminatie afdoet als “gedoe” en “weerstand” dan ben je onderdeel van het probleem @nieuws.nos.nl. Ook tenenkrommend dat schoolbesturen dan meteen afschalen of stoppen. Blijkbaar zijn ze alleen voor LHBTIQ+ emancipatie als het gezellig is.

Gedoe op veel middelbare scholen rond Paarse Vrijdag

Er is groeiende weerstand bij leerlingen, ouders en soms docenten. Een aantal scholen besluit daarom om de dag niet meer te organiseren.

nos.nl

December 13, 2024 at 6:39 AM

Georges IJff

@ijff.bsky.social

Blijkt @dilanyesilgoz.bsky.social nou toch op eens een strategisch slimme zet te hebben gedaan door zo te ageren tegen bijzonder onderwijs? Een paar keer boos doen en @henribontenbal.bsky.social en @mirjambikker.bsky.social komen het kabinet van de ondergang redden, meer was blijkbaar niet nodig.

December 12, 2024 at 6:38 PM

Reposted by Georges IJff

Bob Deen

@bobdeen.bsky.social

🧵Gisteren heeft Trump reeds zijn gezant voor Oekraïne-Rusland benoemd: Keith Kellogg, een 80-jarige luitenant-generaal. Kort draadje over wat we van hem weten en wat zijn ideeën zijn over een akkoord.

TL;DR: dit is naar omstandigheden best goed nieuws voor Oekraïne, had erger gekund. /1

November 28, 2024 at 1:26 PM

Reposted by Georges IJff

Daniël Verlaan

@daniel.verlaan.xyz

Andrew Tates online platform “The Real World” is gehackt.

De privégegevens van honderdduizenden leden zijn buitgemaakt, waaronder mailadressen en (privé)chats.

De hackers hebben ook nog emoji aan het platform toegevoegd, waaronder een regenboog- en transvlag.

www.dailydot.com/debug/andrew...

EXCLUSIVE: Hackers breach Andrew Tate's online university, leak data on 800,000 users

The hacked data includes roughly 325,000 users' email addresses

www.dailydot.com

November 22, 2024 at 11:44 AM

Georges IJff

@ijff.bsky.social

Bizar dat dit kan. Gewone consumenten denken dat hun geld verzekerd bij een bank staat. Er gaat een tussenpersoon failliet en het geld blijkt spoorloos. De ‘banken’ kunnen blijkbaar gewoon actief blijven.

Zouden we in Nederland zoveel beter beschermd zijn? #fintech @mathijsbouman.nl