Posted on 09/15/2011 8:48:13 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
General Electric, with a larger lobbying budget than any other company in America, has long lobbied for and profited from Big Government. Since Obama tapped GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt as Job Czar, this critique has spread throughout the Right.
When it came out that GE's U.S. corporate income tax bill for 2010 was $0, anti-GE sentiment grew on the Left and Right. Finally, at the latest Republican debate Newt Gingrich attacked GE for profiting from Obama-style green-energy loopholes.
So today, GE responds: "There has been a lot of talk lately about GE and what some call crony capitalism. Unfortunately, those same people don’t want the facts to get in the way of their political rhetoric."
The statement begins by pointing out the ways in which GE does make things better: making better medical devices and better jet engines, and employing people in the process. Since I'm pretty harsh on GE, I'll say, good for them for engaging in commerce, which makes the world more prosperous.
[...]
Now here are some more GE claims, and some of my responses
"We are not receiving special treatment"
This is a hard one to believe. GE, again, spends more on lobbying than any other company. Its lobbyists include Linda Daschle, whose husband Tom was the Senate Majority Leader and today is a confidant of Obama
(Excerpt) Read more at campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com ...
Well that substantiates the charges then. I see Zero's brilliance has been rubbing off on Immelt. Maybe Immelt could set up a website to track any accusations of croneyism directed at GE.
That they are not receiving “special treatment” does not exclude crony capitalism. Why, any and every company with billions of dollars of offshore interests and green energy initiatives and armies of million-dollar lawyers get the exact same treatment that GE does.
Although I actually agree with them to some extent, the criminal is not GE, the crime is the tax code.
>> So today, GE responds:
More like some jackass behind the PR campaign.
It sucks that such a great American corporation is under siege by assholes.
I'll say, good for them for engaging in commerce, which makes the world more prosperous.Well we can't all make jet engines or medical devices but some of us do engage in commerce. Unfortunately, unlike GE, most of us who engage in commerce aren't politically connected and are forced to pay
Funny...her enemies emulate her.
>> Hopefully, the GE Board of Directors will shit-can Immelt after Zero leaves office.
No doubt it pays to keep him until then.
In 2009, GE’s number of U.S. employees dropped 18,000, GE has reduced the number of U.S. employees by 31,000 since Immelt signed on.
Head of President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. This position was created by Executive Order, meaning, nobody but Obama had any say in this.
Leader in the push for Cap and Trade, where businesses are fined for producing Carbon emissions and paid for reducing them.
Delivered software and oil supplies to Iran until 2008
Gave orders to NBC news reporters to not say anything negative about Obama during election year.
Partnering with China to build high speed rail in the U.S.
Partnering with China to build commercial airliners
GE was the source behind the outlawing of incandescent light bulbs. We now get our Mercury filled bulbs from China.
Sold GE’s precious metals mine to China, America’s only precious metals mine, and China promptly closed it. Now China is the major supplier of precious metals necessary for windmills, efficient electric motors, magnets, and solar.
Enron’s former CEO Ken Lay was pushing the Clinton and Bush White Houses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.
When Enron collapsed, AES and General Electric absorbed Enron’s assets.
Ken Lay had set up a plan to build coal fired energy plants in third world counties, not affected by the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol would have closed the coal fired power plants in the U.S., increasing the cost of natural gas and decreasing the U.S.’s dependency on coal, making it cheaper for their operations in Asia, South America and Africa.
In 2010, GE earned $14.2 billion in international profits, $5.1 billion in the U.S., they paid no taxes.
GE was given $36 million from the Obama administration for their early retirees.
Immelt’s compensation doubled to $15.2 million.
April 1, 2011 a report comes out that Obama gave GE $36 million to help out GE’s early retirements.
GE is closing its 115 year old X-ray business in the U.S. and relocating to China.
Immelt and Obama are plundering the taxpayers.
Not so long and he can turn the fury of Herr Fuhrer.
My wife is a physician and she has had it with their EHR. It is extremely inefficient and makes life frustrating for all of us as she has to spend many hours at home navigating through it.
Anyway, she just told me that CMS is doling out bonus money to clinics using “certified” software (https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/). The one she is using is GE’s. You will also notice that the list (http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__certified_health_it_product_list/3174) is suspiciously out of date as GE is not listed.
Maybe someone should publish a list of all of the money trails.
Jim
Boulder County, CO
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