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August 25, 2011

GE on the take

Lonnie Williams Weatherford Democrat

WEATHERFORD — GE, the once great blue chip company, has been reduced to a money grubbing parasite on the American economy.

I don’t know about you folks, but I, for one, am growing very tired of the Obama administration routinely blowing smoke up the butts of the American voters. Here’s just another of many examples that the mainstream media has chosen not to query Obama about — and have his questionable decision making explained. I suppose Obama’s evasiveness is just another example of his warped definition of accountability. And speaking of the mainstream media ... General Electric owns 80 percent of NBC ... hmmm.

We have continually been lectured by Obama regarding his so-called concerns of job losses in America, in addition to wanting to impose greater tax burdens on “corporate jet owners.”

Now in the news is General Electric’s plans to relocate their 115-year-old X-ray division from Waukesha, Wis., to Beijing, China. In addition to moving the headquarters, the company will invest $2 billion in China and train more than 65 engineers and create six research centers.

For those of you not following the news too closely, this is the same GE that made $5.1 billion in the United States last year, but paid no taxes — and the same company that employs more people overseas than it does in the United States.

So let me be very clear. The CEO for General Electric is Jeffrey Immelt. Yes, he’s the same J. Immelt that Obama designated to head the president’s commission on job creation (job czar).

Immelt is supposed to help create jobs since being appointed by Obama in January 2011, as the point-man for the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. I guess the president forgot to tell Immelt in which country he was supposed to be creating those jobs.

Furthermore, in 2010, GE was not required to pay any U.S. taxes, although they earned $14 billion in income ($9 billion offshore) while realizing more than $3 billion in tax benefits. Can’t help but wonder if GE, and Obama’s buddy Immelt, are among the corporate “Fat Cats” that Obama frequently refers to as being corporate jet owners who are not paying their fair share. What’s the descriptor Obama recites routinely ... ”Need for corporate tax reform.”

(See: abcnews.go.com/Politics/general-electric-paid-federal-taxes-2010/story?id=13224558.)

By the way, last spring, Immelt asked 15,000 U.S. workers to, “make major wage and benefit concessions.”

Jeffrey Immelt is a leech who should be investigated and held fully accountable for GE’s misdeeds. GE has more than  30 fully-owned or joint businesses in China, and now Immelt is crowing because they plan to sell aircraft electronics to the Chinese, which means they’re selling technology made for Boeing and other companies to China.

And did you know that GE contributed $529,855 to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign? And while connecting the dots — did you also know that GE is playing a key role in the manufacture of CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) which are being federally mandated to replace incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012 and ending in 2014? By the way, just about all the CFLs are also being manufactured in China, where profit margins are high and labor costs are low. In September 2010, GE’s incandescent manufacturing plant in Winchester, Va., was closed, leaving only two remaining incandescent light bulb manufacturing plants (Sylvania and American) in operation in America.

If this doesn’t clearly illustrate troubling trends and the total lack of leadership, responsible decision making, integrity and honesty of this double-talking president, I don’t know what does!



Lonnie Williams is a guest columnist and a resident of Weatherford.

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