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Eugene

(61,900 posts) Wed Nov 23, 2016, 07:32 PM Nov 2016

Wilbur Ross Expected to Be Named Commerce Secretary by Donald Trump

Source: Wall Street Journal

Wilbur Ross Expected to Be Named Commerce Secretary by Donald Trump

Businessman was economic adviser and fundraiser for Trump campaign

By MICHAEL C. BENDER and NICK TIMIRAOS
Updated Nov. 23, 2016 4:46 p.m. ET

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to select Wilbur Ross Jr. to head the Commerce Department, said two people familiar with the deliberations, a decision that would put a billionaire investor known for buying up failed companies in charge of the agency tasked with cultivating economic growth.

Mr. Ross, 78 years old, is chairman and chief strategist of private-equity firm W.L. Ross & Co., a company known for deals that included combining bankrupt steel producers Bethlehem Steel, Acme Steel, Weirton Steel and LTV Steel to form International Steel Group in 2002.

His company’s work in the steel industry raised Mr. Ross’s profile in the Rust Belt, a region of the country that was pivotal to Mr. Trump’s electoral victory on Nov. 8. For some, the New Jersey native has been a savior for steelworkers, willing to risk his money to save thousands of jobs. For others, he was a vulture who cut jobs and pensions and forced pain on a once proud industry.

Mr. Trump acknowledged he was considering Mr. Ross for commerce when the two met on Nov. 20. “That’s what we’re looking for,” Mr. Trump told reporters.

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Highlight:

Wilbur Ross Expected to Be Named Commerce Secretary by Donald Trump (Original Post) Eugene Nov 2016 OP

'His companys work in the steel industry raised Mr. Rosss profile in the Rust Belt, elleng Nov 2016 #1

From Wikipedia: Surprise - not a friend of labor unions. rgbecker Nov 2016 #2

elleng

(130,974 posts)

1. 'His companys work in the steel industry raised Mr. Rosss profile in the Rust Belt,

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Wed Nov 23, 2016, 07:35 PM

Nov 2016

a region of the country that was pivotal to Mr. Trump’s electoral victory on Nov. 8. For some, the New Jersey native has been a savior for steelworkers, willing to risk his money to save thousands of jobs. For others, he was a vulture who cut jobs and pensions and forced pain on a once proud industry.'

rgbecker

(4,832 posts)

2. From Wikipedia: Surprise - not a friend of labor unions.

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Wed Nov 23, 2016, 07:46 PM

Nov 2016

International Coal Group

Ross founded the International Coal Group, which has now gone public. The UMWA has protested the bankruptcy regulations that had allowed him to set up the International Coal Group free of labor unions, health care and pensions.
Sago Mine disaster
Following the Sago Mine disaster, the New York Post's Roddy Boyd reported that Ross "had been intimately involved with the company that owned the West Virginia mine where 12 miners perished — and he knew all about its safety problems, former executives charged." The article also reported that the mine had 12 roof collapses in 2005, and that the U.S. Department of Labor data showed 208 citations for safety violations in that same period, including 21 times for build-up of toxic gasses. Despite these figures, Ross refused to shut down the mine.[15] The Department of Labor and the State of West Virginia, as well as Congress are currently investigating the disaster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Ross

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