Wilbur Ross, Commerce Secretary?
Picture a cartoon villain banker — doesn’t care about working people, only cares about his own bottom line, associates mostly with other extremely wealthy people. That’s Wilbur Ross, Trump’s pick to lead our commerce department.
He has been called a “vulture” and “the bottom-feeder king” for his predatory business practices. He is literally a member of a secret fraternity for rich bankers, and USA Today once reported that “only the prospect of overpaying brings him remorse.”
But that’s only the beginning:
BAD FOR WORKERS’ MONEY
- While Ross cashed in during the Great Recession, his factory employees in states like North Carolina, Indiana, and Pennsylvania were laid off.
- Around the same time, Ross was creating jobs… at new plants in China, India, and Japan.
- Ross generated profits for his companies by cutting wages, retirement benefits and healthcare.
- He does have his fellow billionaires’ backs, though. When asked about the possibility that Trump hasn’t paid income tax in years, Ross said that “most real estate people don’t pay any tax. I don’t think that’s any big deal.”
- Ross supports Donald Trump’s tax plan, which would provide huge tax cuts to the wealthy like them at the expense of hard-working Americans.
BAD FOR WORKERS’ SAFETY
- Between 2004 and 2006, one of Ross’ West Virginia mines received 270 safety violations, 16 of which were among the most serious violations that the Department of Labor issues, but Ross refused to shut it down.
- A 2006 explosion in Ross’ West Virginia mine killed 12 workers and seriously injured another. Here’s what one of the relatives of the victims had to say about Ross:
“It’s easy to throw a couple million afterward instead of spending a few million ahead of time to save men’s lives in the first place.” — Kevin Sharp, relative of a Sago Mine Explosion victim
Ross also joins fellow cabinet members with questionable ties to Russia. He was business partners and sat on the board of the Bank of Cyprus with close allies of Putin. The Trump cabinet’s ties to Russia are already raising alarms, and Wilbur Ross’ connections to Russian oligarchs and former KGB agents further calls Donald Trump’s intentions into question.
Wilbur Ross has a career’s worth of evidence that he’s going to side with his own bottom line over the rights of working Americans, every single time. Share this post on Facebook and Twitter so your friends can see the kind of vultures Trump is putting in charge of our economy.
