In praise of corporate jackals

[GrpCaptMandrake]

As we pause to consider the 12 who died in Sago #1, let us also pause to consider the great man who brought it to us.

Wilbur Ross, Jr. is a billionaire.

In the last few years, he's made a hobby of acquiring bankrupt companies, demanding concessions of the workers and making a rat-kill fortune in the process.

He created International Steel Group from the ashes of the United Steel Workers and Bethlehem Steel. He made his money back 14 times over. Guess what?! Bethlehem Steel got sold to India. (B-T-W, he held ISG until the tariffs were taken down)

Damn you, Mr. Ross! It's not a GAME!

Having tidied up the steel market in the United States, he's moved into coal.

First, he partnered International Coal Group (ICG, no one ever accused Ross of being needlessly creative) with Massey Energy to purchase the bankrupt Horizon Energy. Then, he and Massey threw an entire UMWA workface into the streets, stripping both retirees and active miners of their pensions and healthcare.

Then ICG, it's chops wet and its fangs dripping, moved on. They "assimilated" Anker West Virginia Energy, owners of a little, ne'er do well operation called Sago, in Upshur County, West Virginia. In Tuesday's Charleston (WV) Gazette, Ross bragged "As you know, we have an extremely good safety record. We have gotten a lot of awards."

The Gazette puts the paper to bed by about 8 p.m. ET every night. When they went to press with Tuesday morning's Gazette, Ross had already said "We are doing everything we can to try to recover them as quickly as possible."

The folks who were nearest to 9/11 will recall that the first phase of the operation is "rescue," when there is still hope for the living. The next phase is "recovery," and all its attendant horror and grief.

In the wee small hours of Wednesday morning, about three hours after they were told their loved ones were alive, the families in the Church at Sago found out it was all a lie. The company had known since about 20 minutes after the first, happy, announcement. The next two hours and forty minutes were spent in "Holy hell, what do we do now" -mode.

And yet as early as Monday evening, Wilbur Ross was calling it a "recovery" effort.

By the way: did I mention that Wilbur Ross, Jr. calls himself a "Democrat?"

[cornermouse]

1. That's sort of like Bush calling himself a christian.

In my opinion.

[China_cat]

2. How much would you like to bet

that after a thorough 'investigation' it will be found that the miners were responsible for the explosion and collapse and their families will be denied any death benefits?

[Wilms]

3. Recommended. Quite. n/t

[sandnsea]

4. Massey is a crap pile of a company

IIRC, Massey owned the mine that had that horrific spill into one of the W Virginia rivers a few years ago. Horrible company. Also has coal mines in China that are destroying everything over there. We should dig on this one, connect this company to China and all that is wrong with trade and outsourcing and labor and environment. With a little luck, Abramoff or Delay will pop in there too.

[AngelAsuka]

5. With any luck?

Its not easy to link the words 'DeLay' and 'Luck' in the same sentence, but since the word 'Energy' is likewise involved, I have no doubt a slimy tendril will connect to the fetid juggernaut at some point along the way.

Any chance we can get any of the current batch of slick corpse-o-rate 'voluntary industry regulation' backers to go inspect first-hand the staggering benefits of their idiot-ology in the furthest reaches of the Sago mine? I mean, c'mon, they won awards! Surely that means something, right?!?

:nuke: :argh:

~~AA~~

[eridani]

6. Here's something similar with a URL attached

http://www.makingsteel.com/pocket.html

In other words, Ross did not restructure Beth Steel or the other companies by investing in new technology or seeking out new markets. Rather, he kept the mills running, gaining the workers’ goodwill and maintaining customer relationships, and then diverted the cash flow from the working class to the investment class.

Here’s how you do it in five easy steps:


Step 1: Offer to buy the physical assets of a bankrupt company at a fraction of its book value;

Step 2: Arrange to be released from paying “lifetime” employee benefits that the bankrupt company had promised (if you have enough chutzpah, and Ross did, express anger that the prior employer did not continue to pay retiree benefits without mentioning that your stingy bankruptcy offer was a major reason why);

Step 3: Form a private company to collect the assets and issue stock to yourself and your partners at a big markdown;

Step 4: Tout your company as a comeback story and sell the stock publicly at a big markup. (This process is generally known as “unlocking the value of assets.”)

Step 5: Stand ready to hand off the company (nominally public, but totally under your thumb) to the highest bidder, saying that your “restructuring” is now complete.

<snip>

International Coal Group (ICG) is a knock-off of ISG, formed by Ross & Co. to buy bankrupt assets of coal companies. His biggest catch so far is Horizon Natural Resources, which operates surface and underground mines in Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois.

As he did with Beth and other steel companies, Ross first legally discarded the “baggage” that weighed down the assets. Before he bought Horizon in partnership with A.T. Massey Coal Co., the bankruptcy courtroom of Judge William Howard obligingly eliminated the health-care benefits for 3,800 retired Horizon miners and their widows. (The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. had already assumed responsibility for Horizon’s underfunded pensions.)

Ross also purchased Anker Coal and CoalQuest Development, which own extensive reserves in the Lower Kittanning seam of coal near Grafton, W.Va. (once a major source of metallurgical coal for Sparrows Point). Hoping to repeat his success in steel, Ross has filed his intention to float a $250 million coal IPO through UBS Securities and Lehman Brothers. With energy prices rising, Ross has been angling for a position in UK Coal, Europe’s biggest coal mining outfit, with 12 deep and surface mines in central and northern England.

[Petrushka]

7. More info about Greed personified-- Wilbur Ross, Jr.--

. . . at the following URL:

http://www.newshounds.us/2006/01/03

Scroll down to Mega-Financier Wilbur Ross Owns the Mine Where Disaster Occurred.

[Cooley Hurd]

8. Ross is on CNN's AM right now trying to spin blame away...

...from his company.:puke: