Now as Obama's unemployment rate threatens to sink his presidency, here comes Jeffrey Immelt to lecture business owners.
"The people who are part of the business sector, the people in this room, have got to stop complaining about government and get some action underway," he told the group. "There's no excuse today for lack of leadership. The truth is we all need to be part of the solution."
Hmm. Sounds like shared sacrifice.
Immelt is the chair of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He said the group has made a number of recommendations for changes in government policies that should be able to help job creation, such as the executive order announced Monday asking independent agencies to rid their books of old and outdated regulations.
Immelt said he is committed to working with Obama on other moves that can help hiring, and that he expects to have proposals by the end of the year that should help to create up to 1 million jobs.
Why doesn't he start at GE?
On the upside, Immelt is actually creating some jobs.
A shame these folks aren't paying their fair share, isn't it? They pay zero taxes and rake in 77% profit. It really pay to be one of Obama's pals, doesn't it?
General Electric Co.'s first-quarter earnings rose 77%, helped by marked improvement at its GE Capital business, as the conglomerate's revenue rose.
The company also boosted its quarterly dividend by a penny to 15 cents. It's the third time in the past year that GE has increased its dividend. Many companies have been boosting dividends, looking to give cash back to shareholders as the need to hoard it wanes amid an improved economy.
Shares were up 3.7% to $21.15 premarket. As of Wednesday's close, the stock had risen 12% so far this year.
"GE Healthcare, Transportation and Aviation delivered strong results," said Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt. "Strategic investments in high-growth segments have strengthened the company's energy portfolio and position that business to return to growth in the second half of this year."
Mr. Immelt also noted that the company ended the quarter with a record high backlog, totaling $177 billion.
GE has seen core earnings improve in recent quarters, helped by better demand and restructuring efforts. The company's revenue has increased, while it has cut costs and benefited from better tax rates. It recently completed its deal to spin off a 51% stake of NBC Universal to Comcast Corp.
Remember, they paid zero federal taxes. Hope all you Obama supporters get out there to protest them.
Remember how George W. Bush would hold out the CEO of Halliburton as Upstanding Global Citizen #1?
Of course you don't, because he didn't do that.
So do you think the BDS-addled moonbats who went berzerk over Bush's cozy relationship with corporate devil!!11! Halliburton will have a problem with Obama gushing over GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt in his weekly radio address?
Of course they won't, because they're dope-smoking hypocrites.
Nothing to see here, move along!
Oh, and speaking of China, you'll be thrilled to learn that Operation Kick Me was a smashing success.
Since the government is now deciding who gets paid what at companies that received bailouts, it begs the questions: Why are employees of General Electric, owner of MSNBC, Obama's favorite network, exempt from these pay cuts?
Oh, they have a loophole as noted in this item from a few months back? How convenient.
General Electric, the world's largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government's key rescue programs for banks.
At the same time, GE has avoided many of the restrictions facing other financial giants getting help from the government.
The company did not initially qualify for the program, under which the government sought to unfreeze credit markets by guaranteeing debt sold by banking firms. But regulators soon loosened the eligibility requirements, in part because of behind-the-scenes appeals from GE.
As a result, GE has joined major banks collectively saving billions of dollars by raising money for their operations at lower interest rates. Public records show that GE Capital, the company's massive financing arm, has issued nearly a quarter of the $340 billion in debt backed by the program, which is known as the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program, or TLGP. The government's actions have been "powerful and helpful" to the company, GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt acknowledged in December.
Unlike other major lenders participating in the debt guarantee program, including Bank of America, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase, GE has never been subject to the Fed's stress tests or its rules for limiting risk. Also unlike firms that have received bailout money in the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, GE is not subject to restrictions such as limits on executive compensation.
The debt guarantee program that GE joined is administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was reluctant to take on the new mission, according to current and former officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. The FDIC also initially resisted expanding the pool of eligible companies, fearing it would add more risk to the program, the officials said.
So we now have the government targeting executives at these bailed-out banks, but GE, home of the network that shamelessly propagandizes for Obama and the Democrats, and even receives talking points from them while on the air, is exempt.
Their high-profile, low-rated babblehead Keith Olbermann reportedly is paid a ridiculous $7 million annually. According to King Obama's new pay structure, he'd be whacked down to $350,000. That seems fair to me, although he'd still be overpaid based on his ratings. One imagines his grossly-inflated paycheck must be one of the highest at GE.
C'mon, Olby, man up and volunteer to return your fair share to the people. Who knows, maybe Obama will have you over for secret briefings more often as a reward.
Naturally, Obama again appears in an "exclusive" on his favorite network and pretends his War on Fox News isn't causing him to lose sleep.
General Electric Co.'s (GE) first-quarter net income fell 35% on continued woes at its financial operations.
Meanwhile, Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said estimated stress-test results show the conglomerate won't need to raise additional capital. Some results of the tests, intended to indicate whether major financial institutions need to raise more capital, are due to be released by the federal government next month.
The stock rose 3.9% in recent premarket action to $12.75 as the quarter's profit topped analysts' expectations.
Those are some really low expectations.
Meanwhile, NBC News continues to hemorrhage. Becoming the Obama News Network apparently isn't good for business.
Earnings at GE's 80%-owned NBC Universal television and movie operation dove 45% while revenue dropped 2% amid a weak advertising market and fewer major DVD releases than a year earlier.
Since Barack Obama and tax cheat Tim Geithner have decided to impose salary caps on executives of bailed out companies, isn't it time that employees at NBC News got the same treatment?
After all, some of them are rewarded handsomely for publicly fellating Democrats.
