Speaking at West Point, Immelt said that the previous generation's "tough mindedness" in business dealings was replaced by a philosophy of "meanness and greed, both terrible traits." It is this greed that Immelt feels was the driving force in last year's financial collapse (engulfing GE Financial as well).
What does Immelt feel will bring us to spiritual and economic salvation? Why, big government of course. Immelt said that business should welcome government as a "catalyst for leadership and change." This is the same "government" to which financial visionaries like Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank claim a parking space.
It sounds a bit fascistic to me. But then again, my company doesn't stand to gain billions of dollars from proposed Cap and Trade requirements, as well as infrastructure and "green" projects emanating from new administration
Oops, actually my company does stand to gain. I own GE stock. He's a genius!
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4 comments:
Fascistic is right. Change the rules now that I got MINES!
Greed is a constant. It cannot be the cause of what we saw. It must be something else.
Hey--how do you do the cross-out thing? I've always wondered that.
Go into the "edit html" tab of your post, and add the appropriate tags before and after the word or words to be striken.
What else is new? Fascism is a marriage of big government, big business and big labor. All three will always use government power to protect themselves. Always have, always will.
I'm going to bring up something I know I've talked about before but I'm going to talk about it again because I think it's important. Beginning with the Williams Act in the late 60's and ending with more legislation in '87, Congress has passed laws to protect corporate management. It is virtually impossible to take over a company these days. There are no corporate raiders operating. If a CEO controls the board he in effect owns the company and within the company he can operate with impunity.
Why are corporate raiders important? Number one, if you take away management's protections they are subject to the labor markets just like everyone else. No more 30 million dollars salaries with golden parachutes while the company so expertly run is losing millions. Second, to protect the stockholder. Raiders go in with an eye toward profit. The first thing they want to see is if the books are cooked. If they are they sell and call the WSJ. If everything is Kosher and they see an opportunity to make money, they do what they do. It's all about accountability and nothing does that better than the market.
These CEO protection laws must be changed for a healthy business economy. And oddly enough Immelt is a perfect example of why. GE has lost their ass in the last five years due to this clown's incompetence. Is his job in jeopardy? HELL NO! The shareholders get reemed but does Immelt feel their pain? HELL NO! According to Forbes his base slalary is 12.6, not counting perks, options etc. If it weren't for these laws Immelt would be managing a Blockbuster, and he damn well knows it.
What a coincidence. Just the other night "Law and Order SVU" (you know, the one that features gangsta Ice-T) took it's obligatory slam at Rush, Glenn, and O'Reilly.
Isn't NBC owned by GE?
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