As reported by the Washington Times this Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump has named another new face to his cabinet: billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary.
Ross, AKA the “king of bankruptcy,” is a fan of Trump’s blunt tone and aggressive plans to reinvigorate the economy. Forbes estimates he is worth nearly $3 billion.
“Part of the reason why I’m supporting Trump is that I think we need a more radical, new approach to government – at least in the US – from what we’ve had before,” he told CNBC in June. Ross believes the middle class feels left behind in the current economy. He is confident that Trump’s election signals a shift to a “less politically correct direction.”
Ross spent nearly two and a half decades working as a banker at Rothschild, where he developed a “lucrative specialty in bankruptcy and corporate restructurings,” reports the Times. He went on to found his own firm in 2000 and earned a significant part of his fortune by investing in struggling factories in the Midwest – a region that supported Trump due to his promises to generate more manufacturing jobs and penalize companies for outsourcing jobs to other countries.
Ross is somewhat of a specialist in corporate turnarounds, purchasing bankrupt companies at cheep prices and then attempting to cut costs and increase profits. His investments are generally lucrative, but the investor has come under fire for altering pay and benefits for workers to generate profits.
His firm, WL Ross, has invested in nearly 200 companies since the year 2000.
Ross experienced bad publicity in 2006 when a coal mine he owned exploded, killing 12 miners in Sago, West Virginia. Federal safety inspectors discovered 208 violations during the ensuing investigation.
“Oh, my God, it’s the worst week of my entire life,” he told ABC after the explosion. Ross told the press that he was aware of the safety violations but that the mine’s management team had insisted that the mine was “safe.”
As Commerce Secretary, Ross will represent the interests of American business both at home and abroad. He will oversee an $8 billion budget and nearly 47,000 employees. His department will aid Trump in his goal of protecting American workers and challenging the years of globalization that have buoyed multinational corporations while harming small businesses.
“What you are is ambassador to the world from America,” explains former Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. “It’s critically important when you go to other countries that, first and foremost, you care about them, the citizens of their country.”
This advice doesn’t sit well with Trump’s “America first” attitude, and the President-elect has insisted that China, Mexico, and other countries have played the US for fools during trade negotiations.
“Under a Trump Administration, no American citizen will ever again feel that their needs come second to the citizens of foreign countries,” said Trump in April.
Editor’s note: Current Commerce Secretary Donald Evans has proven incompetent, given the trade deals that have been negotiated. He cares too much about other peoples issues and not enough about American interests. This is what is known as “going native” when empathy is with the wrong side.
Ross will be a Trump stye businessman negotiating on behalf of our country. We were promised the best negotiators, and Ross’s experience in negotiating bankruptcies make him one of the world’s toughest. This man is a natural born shark.
Now he is OUR shark.