GE Took Gov Aid Money, but Immelt Won’t Cut the Fat

Posted by on May 9, 2009 · 2 Comments 

As GE Stocks continue to hover at historic lows, GE announced that it is launching a new medical development program called ‘Healthymagination’ at a cost of about 6 billion dollars.   One of the main objectives of the program is to assist the Obama Administration’s goal of digitizing everyone’s medical records for instant access.

In their announcement, GE said it will draw upon its divisions to include GE Capitol and NBC Universal, both of which are losing entities in the GE brand name.

Now in order to counteract these losses GE has received money and guarantees from the government :

GE Chairman and CEO of General Electric, Jeffry Immelt, not only secured FDIC debt coverage on up to $139.0 billion in bonds outstanding as of Sept. 30, that mature by June 30, GE also tapped the Federal Reserves commercial paper funding facility for almost $5.0 billion in late October. GE became a bank holding company in order to qualify for TARP funds. Shares of GE Stock fell about 4.5% for the week ending 8 May 09.

Tom Daschel, the Health and Human Services nominee who withdrew because of tax trouble, is serving on the GE Healthymagination advisory board. As you may recall, this was Barack Obama’s first choice for the HHS post. So where is the conflict of interest alarms? Why was Vice President Cheney run up and down flag poles for being on the board of Halliburton prior to becoming VP?  Where are the alarmists who screamed bloody murder about President Bush and Exxon? Tom Daschle has Mr Obama’s ear, and this venture represents a huge steak in his health care initiative. It once again proves beyond a reasonable doubt that transparency among administration officials is as clear as Mississippi River water.

GE Capitol in 2008 experienced 7.2 billion in credit losses alone. Combine that with the unprofitable entities of NBC (MSNBC, and CNBC) and you begin to get the picture that GE is not very healthy under Mr. Immelt. In what was once a healthy company with share prices hovering around $50.00, the company now stands to lose its credit rating of AAA and Investment rating from stable to risky.

NBC Studios, MSNBC, CNBC, are currently all rating losers. So why does GE not shed the fat?  Because they stood in line behind the Obama Campaign, and thus are not being treated like Chrysler and GM?  No change at the top for GE (which in Chrysler’s Case, was for pure political expediency) and no forfeiture of unprofitable divisions? As it stands, NBC Studios will develop, produce and air, segments related to this initiative and MSNBC will air a new health related program for Healthymagination. Why are there no salary cap instructions for NBC talking heads like Brockaw, Matthews, or Olbermann? Oh, yeah, they were the only ones who got tingly feelings up and down their legs at the mere mention of Mr Obama.

But again the question is, where does all this money come from, and can GE, who has lost share value and siphoning money to GE Capital, afford 6 Billion dollars?   We have to wonder about the potential huge ethical questions here as Barack Obama owes NBC for all of their unwaivering support, and GE’s push into Mr Obamas healthcare initiatives.  How much of the bill is the taxpayer going to be responsible for?

Filed under Bailouts, Budget, Health care, National Security, Obama, Politicians, Stimulus, Treasury, Wall Street · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

GE Shareholders Are Peeved; Political Outbursts at Meeting

Posted by on April 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

GE shareholder meeting reaches crescendo:

The hostility between Fox News Channel and MSNBC reached a fever pitch Wednesday when a Fox producer infiltrated the GE shareholders meeting.

Just before GE re-elected board members, company brass were hit with questions from shareholders critical of an alleged leftward political slant at MSNBC.

But one of those questions came from Jesse Waters, a producer on “The O’Reilly Factor” whose criticisms were cut short when his microphone was cut off, according to several attendees. Waters apparently did not publicly identify himself as a Fox employee.

If Waters owns stock in GE he can be at the meeting!  Plus, reporting does require one to investigate and get to the truth of the matter.  It is obvious with recent guests like Janeane Garofalo calling conservatives racists, Olbermann calling Cheney and Bush fascists and Rachel Maddow having no idea what she is talking about, may lead people to believe that there is quite a liberal slant on the network.  There is also a lot to be said for Immelt and Zucker’s support of Obama, which has been more visible than previously.  Jack Welch was a lot more tight-lipped about his politics than Immelt when he last ran GE.  Since Immelt’s take over his company, which is usually one of the more stable stocks, has had to consolidate, restructure and cut dividends to try and make ends meet.  Back in the summer of 2008, GE also considered dropping NBC after the Olympics because they did not know how to run a media outlet properly since it did not fit their business practices and core competencies.  Immelt had also been selling equipment that could be used for violent purposes to places like Iran, who are banned on the export/ITAR lists.

Attendees who spoke to THR said shareholders asked about 10 politically charged questions concerning MSNBC as well as one about CNBC.

First up was a woman asking about a reported meeting in which Immelt and NBC Uni CEO Jeff Zucker supposedly told top CNBC executives and talent to be less critical of President Obama and his policies.

Immelt acknowledged a meeting took place but said no one at CNBC was told what to say or not to say about politics.

During the woman’s follow-up question, her microphone was apparently cut off. A short time later, Waters asked a question and his mic was cut, too.

“The crowd was very upset with MSNBC because of its leftward tilt,” one attendee said. “Some former employees said they were embarrassed by it.”

And the shareholders should be embarrassed since the leftward tilt was incredibly obvious when they cut off the microphones of those questioning them – even a woman who was a valid shareholder!  With actions such as the ones mentioned above, are we supposed to believe what they tell us about their account of the CNBC meeting?  Freedom of Speech is not allowed in Obamanation.

“My biggest surprise was the open hostility to MSNBC,” said Tom Borelli of the Free Enterprise Action Fund and a four-year critic of Immelt. “It was noticeable and loud. I don’t remember any of this going on last year.”

“Any time MSNBC was mentioned, there was a rumbling in the crowd of 400 people,” he added. Borelli also asked a question pertaining to GE’s stock performance since Immelt took the helm.

The meeting, which lasted more than two hours, was described by all four of the attendees THR talked to subsequently as variously rancorous or critical. Other than questions about MSNBC, shareholders brought up questions about executive pay and cuts to the company’s dividend.

I’m glad some people are starting to wake up and are starting to speak up – it’s about time!

Filed under Constitution, Corruption, Double Standards, Economy, Media · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,