In his just-released book Wilbur Ross‚ the ex-commerce secretary calls covid-era benefits a problem thats hurting work culture. The wall-street veteran (whos now in his mid-80s) points to these hand-outs as key reason for todays workforce issues
During Covid‚ there were quite [a few] people in the US who were getting paid more through various programmes for not working than they ever got paid when they were working
The king-of-bankruptcy turned cabinet member – who managed over $400bn in assets during his career – thinks both US stimulus checks and UKʼs furlough program created wide-spread work-ethic problems; this affected young men the most
His book comes out as next weeks election approaches where Donald Trump leads in betting odds. Ross shares some behind-the-scenes moments including when Trump asked him to call “idiot“ Jerome Powell about interest rates back in 18
Looking at trade policies Ross explains that free-trade ideas dont work in real life: Countries always want more than theory suggests. He thinks Trumps tough talk on tariffs is mostly PR though – its more about sending messages than actual policy
Discussing UK economics‚ he points to recent tax changes: The non-dom rules shift might cause rich people to leave Britain. He criticizes previous tory government saying they didnt follow their own plans (which reminds him of current US situation)