G.E. Chief Executive Issues Ill-Advised Response to Bernie Sanders

[steve2470]

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/g-e-chief-executive-issues-ill-advised-response-to-bernie-sanders/?_r=0

Gee, G.E.

After Bernie Sanders singled out General Electric’s tax avoidance and extensive overseas operations as an example of corporate “greed” and “selfishness,” Jeff Immelt, G.E.’s chief executive, penned a long, snarky op-ed for The Washington Post that went beyond defending the company, and appeared to take sides in the Democratic nominating contest. His comments were particularly unseemly on the eve of hotly-contested primaries in New York and Connecticut, G.E.’s corporate home bases.

In an interview with the editorial board of The New York Daily News, Mr. Sanders said:

General Electric was created in this country by American workers and American consumers. What we have seen over the many years is shutting down of many major plants in this country. Sending jobs to low-wage countries. And General Electric, doing a very good job avoiding the taxes. In fact, in a given year, they pay nothing in taxes. That’s greed. That is greed and that’s selfishness. That is lack of respect for the people of this country.

more at link

[pa28]

1. GE "Not a big hit with the socialists" but GE's negative tax rate is corporate socialism.

Exporting jobs at the expense of American workers and at a direct cost to taxpayers seems OK with him. THAT kind of socialism is a big hit with Immelt.

[Jarqui]

2. GE's shrinking US Workforce

[Jitter65]

5. And when Bernie get done with them it will probably be down to 10%.

But I have to say I agree with him on this. He is absolutely right.

[RiverLover]

3. Not fair, 30 others are just as bad.

[MADem]

14. Bernie paid 13.8% of his income in taxes--I paid more in taxes as a percentage of my income than he

did.

And I make no where near the money he made.


He needs to release all his returns -- at least since he joined the Senate.

[Jitter65]

4. So people are not even allowed to defend themselves from Bernie right or wrong?

And in his response is Bernie suggesting that all those jobs were the result of GE just shutting down and moving their operations without any of those nasty trade agreements folks blame for job losses? Which is it?

[jillan]

12. If you are okay that Corporate Conglomerates are using off-shore tax havens instead of investing

in the United States than I have to question if you are really a liberal.

[Jarqui]

6. GE's taxes:

G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether

What The Top U.S. Companies Pay In Taxes

Considering GE’s pretax income of $14.2 billion, that makes for a tax rate of just 7.4%
...
Yes, GE’s lobbyists have helped get laws passed like those that grant federal tax credits for green energy investments like wind turbines. GE both builds such turbines and invests in wind farms and gets millions in such credits.

But the real tax benefits are gleaned overseas. The U.S. has higher corporate tax rates than nearly all the world’s biggest economies, so it’s only natural that GE would seek to generate as much of its profits overseas as possible. As long as those profits aren’t repatriated to the U.S., GE doesn’t owe U.S. tax rates on them.

Forbes & NYT seem to agree with Bernie.

[demwing]

7. I wish Letterman were still around - he had a softspot for GE

[SoLeftIAmRight]

8. lol - they do not want to pay any taxes

...

[azmom]

9. Immelt wanted congress to cut social security.

Greedy bastard!

[Jarqui]

10. Bernie was in Rutland recently:

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/photos/sen-sanders-on-the-road

Senator Sanders held a press conference on Monday to announce $137,950 in federal support that he secured for three delinquency prevention programs in the Rutland area. The funds include $40,050 for the Success Program at Rutland High School, $26,700 for the Howe Center Campus of Rutland High School to expand a school-to-work program for students, and another $71,200 for the Smokey House Center for a statewide learning program in agriculture and natural resources. Senator Sanders is pictured below with (from the left) Lynn Bondurant, Executive Director of Smokey House, Ellie McGarry, Director of Support Services at Rutland High School, Senator Sanders, and Rutland High School Howe Center Students Shaun Duarte and Kelsey Bauer.

He didn't got to glad hand for votes at GE. He came to deliver $137,950 in federal funds to kids in Rutland he got from
[link:http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/24/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-was-roll-call-amendment-king-1995-2/|]Politifact: Bernie Sanders was the roll call amendment king from 1995 to 2007]
Try looking up Hillary's record on this when comparing their records in government. She doesn't hold a candle to him.

[jillan]

11. I bet a lot of these tax dodging corporations are getting scared. They didn't expect Bernie to

do as well as he is doing.

[BernieforPres2016]

13. Jeff Immelt has been CEO of GE for 15 years

I recently read that during his tenure, the total return to GE shareholders has been 1%. Not 1% per year, but 1%. Immelt's total compensation last year was about $34 million. He can only fly in GE jets "for security reasons"; no commercial flights where he might mix with the public. His mismanagement of GE's balance sheet, with a ridiculous overreliance on short term commercial paper, would have put GE into bankruptcy during the financial crisis had GE not received TARP support and had the U.S. Treasury not backstopped the entire commercial paper market.

I am not going to go through the last 15 years of GE's proxies to see what Immelt has made as CEO over that period, but I would be very surprised if it was less than $250 million. But when GE recently decided to move its corporate headquarters from Stamford, CT to the Boston area at least in part to business tax increases in Connecticut, the state of Massachusetts agreed to give a big package of financial incentives, including paying the relocation expenses of Immelt and other GE executives.

I will take Bernie Sanders over the incomprehensibly overpaid corporate scumbag Jeff Immelt every day of the week.