Wilbur Ross’ “Let Them Eat Cake” Moment Strikes a Sour Note

Last updated on: January 24, 2019 at 1:58 pm by Susan Wright

Wilbur Ross’ “Let Them Eat Cake” Moment Strikes a Sour Note 2019-01-24T13:58:00-05:00 Susan Wright

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

What is tone deaf and callous, Alex?

While appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier Thursday morning to discuss the economy, as well as the details of the government shutdown, now into its 34th day, the ultra-wealthy Secretary Ross seemed befuddled over the purpose of food banks, and in particular, why the roughly 800,000 federal workers and contractors who haven’t been paid during this time would need to rush to these food banks and soup kitchens.

In what will go down as a “Let them eat cake” moment, Ross dove in with both feet:

“I know they are and I don’t really quite understand why,” said Ross, who’s reportedly worth roughly $700 million.

Having worked at food banks, encountering the people who come in for service, I’m just going to guess it’s because they need to feed their families, somehow.

Not to worry. Mr. Ross was really going somewhere with this.

“So the 30 days of pay that some people will be out, there’s no real reason why they shouldn’t be able to get a loan against it, and we’ve seen a number of ads of financial institutions doing that.”

That’s right. He wants people who don’t know when they will get paid again to take on more debt. The normal reaction to a lack of cash flow is to cut out your debt, not add to it.

His point, however clumsily made, was that some of those federal workers will be getting back pay, once the government opens back up.

That being said, some of them won’t, but even if they do, they don’t know when, at this point. Do they really want a loan sitting on their backs?

Some financial institutions are offering low or no interest loans. I suspect that some of the unpaid workers have resorted to using these services. Desperate times require desperate measures.

Still, I have to question the prudence of recommending desperate people take on more debt.

These workers are going without, pawns in a political game between Democrats and Republicans, as President Trump, afraid of his base, refuses to compromise until he gets $5.7 billion for some vague concept of a southern border wall.

Democrats, on the other hand, have no desire to give a political win to the Republicans.

Why should they?

Trump was more than pleased to announce to the world that he would be “proud” to shut the government down, and he did.

Of course, as soon as it became clear that a prolonged struggle over taxpayer funding for his “wall” would come back on him, not the Democrats (as evidenced by recent polls), he wanted to put it all on the Democrats.

Too late.

The truth is, it is on both sides of the aisle. None of them are working for the good of the people. While Republicans seem cold and removed from the people and families that are hurting because of the shutdown, Democrats only care for as long as they can use them to build themselves up as the “compassionate” party.

It’s a shame that Trump makes it so easy for them.

Meanwhile, it will get worse, before it gets better.

The shutdown, now in its 34th day, could take a steep toll on the U.S. economy. The president’s top economist said Wednesday that the shutdown could wipe out all of the country’s first quarter gross domestic product growth if it lasts through March.

Let’s just pray for those families struggling because of the spoiled children in our government.

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Wilbur Ross

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