"Yes Men" claim hoax GE tax press release

[Newsjock]

Source: Reuters

General Electric Co denied sending a press release saying that it would return a tax refund to the U.S. government. The press release was sent by the "Yes Men" activist group, a member of that group said.

... Andrew Boyd, who described himself in a phone interview as a member of the "Yes Men" group, said it was the source of the press release sent to news media outlets on Wednesday.

... The "Yes Men" sent the release to draw attention to GE's approach to taxes, Boyd said in a phone interview.

"This is unpatriotic, it's undemocratic, it's unfair," Boyd said. "It might be legal but it's immoral."

Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Yes-Men-claim-hoax-GE-tax-rb-2738786346.html

[rurallib]

1. and GE looks like a bunch of greedy assholes when they

finally come out and say they are keeping the money.
$3.2B - that means every man woman and child gave GE $10 last year through their government. I never got asked if I wanted to give 410 to GE.

[L. Coyote]

16. THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing

... two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations,
lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks.

From New Orleans to India to New York City, armed with little more than cheap thrift-store suits,
the Yes Men squeeze raucous comedy out of all the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet.

Who knew fixing the world could be so much fun?

http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/

[ooglymoogly]

17. Absolutely breathtakingly brilliant. nt kr

[L. Coyote]

20. Hugh-among-us award-winner too

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. They are so straight faced that even the right does not get it for awhile,

much as the right often thinks Colbert is serious.
That just kills me.

[cui bono]

42. Hope this is better than their first film. It didn't do them justice.

Knowing about what they did and several of their antics that first film was really disappointing. I'll have to check out this newer one.

[ooglymoogly]

41. Roughly 1/3 of the entire population files an income tax form

slightly less than 50% of those filers do not pay any tax at all. So the actual forced donation to GE is $60 + or - per taxpayer; based on your figure of $10 per every man woman and child.

Forced charity for the rich....its called fascism.

Think what life would be if those millions of taxpayers gave that $60 and all the other wasted boondoggles for the rich, to fix a school, build a school, repair a bridge, fix a road, bring our rail system into the 21 century, brought social security payout in line with inflation, and reality, as per its original intent, (but of course SS does not belong here as it is a self sustaining system; other than that is being robbed) housed the poor, fed the poor, take care of the sick and dying, add infinitum.

The entire system would be humming in no time and jobs would go begging for someone to fill them.

The vital grease of a good economy is circulating money. Money to buy, money to build, money to repair, money to shop; anathema to all that is the offshore bank and hording.

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Delicious

[indepat]

10. Dum-de-de delicious and devilishly so

:thumbsup: :patriot:

[ooglymoogly]

15. Yes indeed, its sinnnnnfully delicious.

to be said or thought while playing an invisible flute. An air flute I guess you'd call it.

[PJPhreak]

4. Oh,I like these Dudes Style!

This is how activism should be done!

From Wiki...

"The Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo consisting of Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. Through actions of tactical media, The Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about what they consider problematic social issues."

"On December 3, 2004, the twentieth anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, Andy Bichlbaum appeared on BBC World as "Jude Finisterra",a Dow Chemical spokesman. Dow is the owner of Union Carbide, the company responsible for the chemical disaster which killed thousands and left over 120,000 requiring lifelong care.

On their fake Dow Chemical website, the Yes Men said that Dow Chemical Company had no intention whatsoever of repairing the damage. The real company received considerable backlash, and both the real Dow and the phony Dow denied the statements, but Dow took no real action.

The Yes Men decided to pressure Dow further, so as "Finisterra," Bichlbaum went on the news to claim that Dow planned to liquidate Union Carbide and use the resulting $12 billion to pay for medical care, clean up the site, and fund research into the hazards of other Dow products. After two hours of wide coverage, Dow issued a press release denying the statement, ensuring even greater coverage of the phony news of a cleanup. By the time the original story was discredited, Dow's stock had declined in value by $2 billion.


Nice!!

[Modern_Matthew]

8. You should watch the documentary they made of their antics. Good stuff. nt

[rhett o rick]

29. So maybe you could share the name of the documentary?? nm

[99th_Monkey]

33. "The Yes Men" is name of movie. ~nt

[rhett o rick]

40. Thanks. nm

[cui bono]

43. There's two films. I saw the first one, "The Yes Men" and was disappointed.

I already knew about them and had heard of several of their antics and that film just didn't deliver for me. There's now a second one called "The Yes Men Fix the World". I haven't see that one but it is highly recommended upthread.

[rhett o rick]

44. They are both available via netflix. nm

[BanzaiBonnie]

5. It was brilliant

[MahayanaLotus]

6. Hail Yes Men

Hey Boyd, northing's more illegal, immoral, etc, etc., etc...than an Oligarchy bent on enslaving their workers.

[progressoid]

7. LOVE the Yes Men!

[Snoutport]

9. most awesome :0) nt

[blondeatlast]

11. So GE will not be returning said overpayment to the citizens?

;)

[RushIsRot]

12. GE: We bring loud things to war.

[rabs]

13. BULLETIN KILL "A kill is mandatory"

Date: 4/13/2011 10:21 AM
Kill – BC-US–GE Tax Refund,KILL/46
Eds: BULLETIN KILL. Do NOT use BC-US–GE Tax Refund. A kill is mandatory. The story was based on a press release that GE says was a hoax.
STORY REMOVED: BC-US–GE Tax Refund
The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about General Electric repaying its entire $3.2 billion tax refund to the US Treasury on April 18. The story was based on a press release that GE says was a hoax.
The AP

---------------------

AP covers its butt by saying that "GE says" the story was a hoax, instead of the AP saying it did not verify the original release.

An AP business writer will be mopping the floors, if the AP decides to keep him/her around.

[Mason Dixon]

14. Why do you think the AP

ran this story so fast?

[ooglymoogly]

18. I put my post in the wrong place so here it is again: Absolutely, breathtakingly brilliant. Kr Nt

[delunapark]

19. GE owns

49% of NBC Universal & MSNBC.
WTF???

[L. Coyote]

21. I guess you didn't see the film, cuz that was the right place!

??

[ooglymoogly]

31. I saw the trailer and that is why I left the original post.

I just think this is so smart I wanted to say it twice and you can only rec an OP. No intent whatsoever to offend anybody. These are the kind of actions that make my day.

[rpannier]

22. But they use that money to re-invest in the company

House and Senate members don't come cheap

[Newsjock]

23. Updated story link here

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Yes-Men-claim-hoax-GE-tax-rb-2738786346.html

Reuters updated the original and then deleted the version linked to in my OP.

[GreydeeThos]

24. HA! HA!

[GreydeeThos]

25. K&R

[FailureToCommunicate]

26. "Yes man!" "Yes man!" "Yes!"

[propagandagirl]

27. The Yes Men Fix the World..

You can watch instantly on Netflix. Absolutely worth watching!

[Marie Marie]

28. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these guys!

Their shenanigans make James O'Keefe look like the rank amateur that he is. And they always hit the right targets. Brilliant!

[rhett o rick]

30. Blaming GE is like blaming the kid that goes crazy in the candy shop after the regulators leave the

door open. GE is required by law to make a profit. They, like every other corporation will take every advantage of regulations to increase their profits. If you want to blame anyone, blame our government that is supposed to represent us but instead allows GE to run rampant over us. We have a Democratic Senate and President, so who is letting GE get by w/o paying taxes???

[999998th word]

32. K+R

A great news day!!!

[whirlygigspin]

38. view online

http://www.filmsforaction.org/Watch/The_Yes_Men_Fix_The_World_2009/

[rhett o rick]

39. Thank you. nm

[KT2000]

34. Ha! They once issued an apology

to the people of India from Union Carbide. UC had to deny the apology.

They people are great.

[myrna minx]

36. I *love* these guys.

:loveya:

[dixiegrrrrl]

37. "Bear in mind that GE's CEO is also the Obama's recently picked economic advisor AND

a member of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Remember the FED? They're the outfit that bailed out GE with lots of bucks after changing a few rules. everyone knows, the original intent of TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) was to bail out banks – which, of course, meant that GE wasn’t eligible. But then, GE ‘discovered’ that it owned two banks in Utah. Both of those banks applied for TARP funds, both were approved, and $80 billion was handed to GE."

found this in the comments section of the corrected hoax story.

double delicious!