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🎬Roses n More?
Good morning. Love doesn't cost a dime at Squared Take, it only costs newsletters. A pre-valentine note from us, may the apricity of the 14th be with you.
INTERNATIONAL
Trump's Buyout Offer Gains Popular Favour
Ken Dunham/The Hill
Tipping the waiter doesn't cost more because they get to keep their jobs, U.S. workers don't so they're getting tipped extra in months. Tens of thousands of workers in the United States have been cleared to take the buyout offered by Trump's administration. Over 75,000 workers have signed up for the buyout, “it's not a bad bargain if you lose it with some cash, right?” The workers seemed to say.
Why is this taking place?
Trump, alongside Musk, as promised by during his campaign for the presidency in 2024, promised the downsizing of the federal workforce which he described as ‘being ineffective’. The President authorized the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE to take the helm of affairs as it seeks out nonfunctional roles in the federal workforce to cut government costs.
A friend to all is a friend to none. District Judge George O'Toole ruled against the under-sizing at first glance, yet he's a Judge after all. The legal front provided that the unions did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit and said the issue needed to be tackled in other forums before landing in court. Today's ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants. But it's not the end of that fight," said Everett Kelly, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 800,000 federal workers.
Looking ahead: The buyout is considered one of the many approaches by the Trump administration to cut down a 2.3 million workforce that have been deemed ineffective for the administration. The recent hatches are not left out of the fire either, as agencies have laid off new hires with no full job security.
TRENDING
Roses N More, Not for Musk and Altman
Jeremy Clarkson/Dune Pictures
In the chronicles of the book called Sapiens, we went from the Drake-Kendrick beef to a battle of space bridge between tech bros Musk and Altman in less than a week. The world’s richest man is at Valentine loggerheads with Sam Altman, since the other offered to buy the AI innovation, Open AI for a mind blowing sum of $97.4 billion a week after Musk proposed $97 billion for the company. The offer comes as OpenAI is reportedly close to raising $40 billion from SoftBank at a $300 billion valuation. The tech moguls, having been at it since 2015 have come once again for a battle at ‘money bunker’. Even if the board rejects Musk’s ~$97 billion offer, it could still drive up the stake in the company that Altman and co. will have to give the nonprofit in exchange for relinquishing control—which would cut into the equity it can offer investors like Microsoft.
SHOWER THOUGHTS
“Calculators probably get bored with the level of math you give them.”
NEWS
Round The Continent
Taiye Adams/Commonwealth
Ghana missing $156 million in state budget after USAID freeze.
US Aid suspension undermines UN humanitarian initiatives in DRC.
Egypt’s President will not attend White House talks if they involve Trump's Gaza plan, his spokesperson says.
Nigerians outraged as telecom giants hike data prices amid economic turmoil.
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