I think at the end of the day, the real sick man of Europe is liable to turn out to be France, not Greece, not Portugal, not Spain, not Italy. The reason is France is very uncompetitive to begin with on a global scale, and the measures that Hollande has been putting in have been very, very negative from the point of view of economic growth. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
Shale gas, if left to flourish, could create several hundred thousand more jobs. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
Shipping has a great oversupply of vessels that came from over-ordering a few years back. We think 2014 may be when it turns around. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with a bank being big. In fact, there are some good arguments about universality of geography that in theory, if you have all your eggs in one little community, and some big employer goes out, that could be your downfall. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
Between the Community Redevelopment Act, requiring banks to make what I would call very weak loans, and specific quotas that the Congress imposed on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that created the market demand that really led to the subprime phenomenon. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
I see myself as a private-equity investor that helps rebuild companies. Restructuring is a cottage industry in that there aren’t that many serious practitioners. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
Generally speaking, companies get into bankruptcy as a kind of meritocracy. Somebody made some sort of big mistake, to get into bankruptcy, and very often, a part of the mistake is too much leverage. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
China is the most protectionist country of the very large countries. They talk more about free trade than they actually practice. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
The one term I don’t like to be called is a ‘vulture.’ Because to me, a vulture is a kind of asset-stripper that eats dead flesh off the bones of a dead creature. Our bird should be the phoenix, the bird that reinvents itself, recreates itself from its ashes. And that’s much closer to what it is that we really do. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
It’s important to have a sound idea, but the really important thing is the implementation. Wilbur Ross Read Quote
