Ross: Hey federal employees, go get a loan!
Jan 25, 2019, 9:08 AM
Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross speaks to employees of the Department of Commerce in Washington, July 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary (no relation), is getting seltzer sprayed in his face for saying that strapped federal employees shouldn’t have to go to food pantries.
“First of all, the banks and the credit unions should be making credit available to them,” he recently said.
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And that is happening. Various credit unions and banks are providing no-interest loans to unpaid federal workers.
“So there really is not a good excuse,” Ross said.
Not a good excuse for unpaid workers to feel stressed or stay home. But if it’s so easy, why couldn’t the commerce secretary himself arrange for those interest-free loans and send out the checks?
Because the air traffic controllers are saying things like this:
“Radars have gone down, they are not being brought back up, that is how we get our weather.”
“Our technology is not being maintained … we are less safe than we were a month ago, absolutely.”
I suppose you could argue they’re just whining. But I feel like the people whose job it is to keep my plane from colliding with your plane should be focusing on the radar screen. You know, making sure those little blips stay in their lane, and on buying the spare parts so the little blips don’t suddenly disappear, and not having to swat away stray thoughts about where to find a sympathetic bank to finance the groceries.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
