‘Green Energy’ Helps Bring GE Taxes to Zero
by Dan FreemanWhile GE spent millions to elect President Obama and pushing fiscally destructive policies like cap & trade on the American taxpayer, the company’s bloated tax department of 975 employees has been busy making sure it’s own tax bill on $14 billion of revenues less than ZERO. That’s right, GE actually claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
It’s interesting to note that while Ronald Reagan cracked down on GE in the mid-1980s—he overhauled the tax system after learning that G.E. was among dozens of corporations that had used accounting gamesmanship to avoid paying any taxes—President Obama has taken the opposite approach. CEO Immelt and Obama have appeared joined at the hip of late, with the President even appointing him chairman of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
Among the actions Immelt has taken over the years to preserve GE’s preferential tax treatment, was to bribe Charles B. Rangel in 2008 (then Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee) with a $30 million “donation” to New York City schools, including $11 million to benefit various schools in Mr. Rangel’s district.
It’s all here in this devastating indictment of GE by NY Times reporter David Kocieniewski.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
135 Comments
Government Extortion, helping ourselves to the people's money for decades.
Isn't GE the company that built the nuclear reactors in Japan? Not that it matters, but it probably wouldn't be such a media secret if the builder was Haliburton, rather than Obama's favorite corporate crony.
It may also explain our "green" president's near-silence on the subject, in contrast to his "kick-ass" approach to BP in another corporate evironmental disaster in the Gulf.
Bill O'Reilly used to regularly blast GE for its long-time dealings with Iran that continued as American soldiers were being killed in Iraq — oftentimes with Iranian assistance. Any dealings with Iran apparently are not objectionable to Obama. It's also common knowledge that GE is parent company of NBC and MSNBC, two key Obama lapdogs in the MSM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOrcrWhryk0&fe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXw7-odxjXI
The link above to the NYT article was broken earlier. Here's a correct link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/econom...
Gia will be pleased, and we all know that’s the most important thing, right?
Corporations don’t pay taxes, it’s a pass through to the customer. This doesn’t negate the blatant cronyism that exist between GE and Barry, Hell! …all of statist Washington for that matter.
chirp…. chirp…. chirp…
What is that? The sound of the progressive/anti-oil company/anti-military contractor whack jobs who complained and protested about a less than 10% profit margin for those companies but will NEVER say a thing about GE's 30% profit margin gained through croney capitalism.
Businesses do NOT pay taxes. Period. They never have.
Taxes are an expense to be placed in the balance sheet and offset by assets, i.e., consumer purchases of their product. The consumer is paying the taxes. Every congresscritter knows this.
This drumming up of outrage is totally misdirected: the consumer has been paying the "hidden tax" of corporations all along.
Buncha rubes, I swear. Falling for the "class envy" card.
If you too are in the government not only do you get to not pay taxes but you also get money back !
Here is an easy solution. Cut the corporate tax rates and cut all of the loopholes out. Make the big guys pay their fair share just like the small guys do.
If our government is stupid enough to put up tax laws that companies will use and end up paying no tax….. who is to blame–?
This is just an example of how stupid government is, not how corrupt a company is.
Erased already ?
Page Not Found ?
It’s all here in this devastating indictment of GE by NY Times reporter David Kocieniewski. ?????
it's called 'crony capitalism'…
And Jeff Immelt's GE would be to Obama what Adolph Krupp- or Albert Speer- would be to his fellow Progressive Hitler. The 'chosen' corporation to create what the Government Deems Necessary. If you add up all of the subsidies and tax CREDITS these people get you'd see why they pay exactly zero.
That, and all of the profits stay offshore. Nice and tidy.
If it was any of us who pulled this off we would be tried, convicted and sentenced…
A Flat Tax with zero deductions solves all kind of problems.
How does that work for self-employed people? Their gross does not equal their net.
"…it now had 975 employees."
Apparently, the TAX-AND-SPEND lunatic-left d-crat socialists DID CREATE a few jobs. Amazing. I can almost hear plagiarist-joe "Bite-Me" biden bragging about this.
VIVA CRONY CAPITALISM !!!!
Impeach the thief. 0bama. Liar extrodinaire.
The NYT online has just gone behind a paywall, or it's going to do so in the next couple days.
Exactly.
Yes you should see the lefties scream about how evil corps don't pay taxes… until you point out all the green credits, subsidies and tax breaks their own administration handed out. Then they change their tune faster than someone pushing a new song on an 8 track.
I can remember 8 tracks….
Thanks for reminding me of my age ;p
Very shortly I and millions of others will write checks to the Federal government for tens of thousands of dollars. What did we get for our money? Trillions of dollars in debt and deficits and more laws that the vast majority of us do not want.
If you went shopping and bought a car. The car broke down on the way home. Caught fire.
How many of us would buy a car from that company again?
So tell me again why you voted for Obama?
The only way you can say that what the government has done is "stupid," is if you believe they thought what they were doing was the best thing for the country or for the People.
But we know better that they have been lobbied, cajoled, maneuvered, paid off, or in some other way incentivized to sell out the interests of the country and of the People.
So I'd more likely call them, selfish, greedy, and evil.
If the Federal Government collects 10%, well, If one was self-employed and receives a dollar, one dime goes to the Federal Government.
The take-home is 90 cents.
If one would need a dollar in take-home pay then one would charge $1.11
If one has to pay 50 cents for the item or service sold for 1 dollar and still needs one dollar in take-home just charge $1.56 for the item or service. Charge more for all overhead as well.
No deductiions for anyone…… for anything, at any time.
Even Religions should pay the same as everyone else.
People on welfare should pay the same as everyone else….. people on food stamps, everyone.
That way no one can game the system.
I was still able to get to the story. Give this link a try. If it doesn't work, go to another site like FoxNation that links to the story. I believe linked stories will get past the pay wall, if there is one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/econom...
"you'd see why they pay exactly zero"
Until you consider that they actually RECEIVED $3.7 Billion in tax credits. That's even better than "paying zero."
Yeah, funny how obama talked about "tax incentives" to oil companies in his SOTU, but didn't utter a word about ENTIRELY SUBSIDIZING wind, solar, ethanol, etc.
OK, so it's not actually "funny."
crony capitalism…
Check
Off Topic
Just thought someone might enjoy reading this transcript of a very important speech given by Geert Wilders yesterday in Rome:
"The Failure of Multiculturalism and How to Turn the Tide"
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/geert...
A self-employed person may paint houses.
He buys a truck and ladders, a sprayer, paint, brushes, etc.. He also buys a computer for his home office.
He grosses 100,000 in a year. He spent 50,000 on the truck and other stuff. He feels that he had about 10,000 in other expenses like the use of his home office, telephone, etc..
Does he pay 10% of his gross of $100k or 10% of the $50k?
Does he get to write off the entire amount of the cost of the truck that one year or does he depreciate it? What if Bob uses the truck only 75% of the time for work and the rest is for personal use?
How does he figure the cost of his home office?
I raise these points – in this simplistic example – to point out that taxes for the self-employed and for small business involve a LOT more than just a simple flat tax.
A flat tax may work for people who are employed by corporations or otherwise earn a salary or hourly wage or bonuses, but it's a lot harder to have a flat tax work for the self-employed and for businesses.
I agree that religious workers and those on welfare should pay tax.
GE should be indicted for developing mercury filled green lightbulbs.
There is ALWAYS someone who can game ANY system.
Ignore that at your peril.
Why all the fuss? They bring good things to life. Not our lives of course………
That's what you get when you bribe all the politicians through lobbying and campaign donations.
thanks
Better yet, the FairTax — no tax on production; only consumption.
Now, now. The government's going to get that back. Immelt will make a sizeable donation to the Obamboozler's reelection campaign.
Hey, ya and by allowing them to keep ALL of their money and hire more employees. In Korea. Another job created or saved by the Obama Administration!
There is no difference between a large and small company with a Flat Tax.
Bill Gates makes 6 Billion Dollars in one year he pays 6 Billion dimes in Tax. The Painter makes 100,000.00 a year, he will pay 100 thousand dimes to the Government. 10,000.00 bucks.
If he needs to take home 100,000.00 then he needs to charge more money.
If he needs to buy a new truck then he needs to charge more money for his services.
Difference is Microsoft pays 10% and the Microsoft Employee (Bill Gates) pays 10% on take home pay.
The Painter pays 10% once, unless the Painter has a Business that has other Painters, then the Business pays 10% and the Employees pay 10%.
Yes, and under a Flat Tax they would be called Criminals….. whereas right now they are just called ingenious.
Now that you put it that way- Doesn't it become, in a round about way, a VAT? ( not being facetious, just want to know how this would work, if it'll work..)
That sure applies here and now in America.
One small example:
"The strategy of exporting human beings and having them breed in abundance is the simplest way to take possession of a territory," warned the famous Italian author Oriana Fallaci.
Brings to mind our insane "anchor baby" law.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/25/birthing-cen...
Wilders better buy himself a good shotgun. European "diversity" produced an environment where mild criticisms of Muslim extremism puts one's life at risk.
We tryed that (ok, liberal law makers tryed that) and it became a game changer for anyone losing in the stock market when the dot com went bust. Everybody was taxed on their gains, loses be damned.
Even now, a few years ago I was self employed, and being the honest man that I am (or one who knows he'd always be caught) I didn't try any "fancy" accounting and paid close to 60% on taxes. Even now, after two years of being employed, Cal's State board of Equalization is coming around demanding sales taxes on services rendered. (I never sold anything except my time) Pay that Rotten GE!
Seems that the United States is the most unfairest taxing system on its people in the world:
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2011/03/the-w...
Seems that the United States is the most unfairest taxing system on its people in the world:
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2011/03/the-w...
Seems that the United States is the most unfairest taxing system on its people in the world:
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2011/03/the-w...
Your comment from above said that they would raise their prices to accomadate their expenses. That means the supplyers to manufactures (or farmers), the manufactures (or farmers) The tranport of the goods (truck drivers) (and gas stations by the way, and all their suppliers), the whole salers, the Grocery stores, as a very simply list. Everybusiness would have to raise their prices to suit their new costs of their expenses due to the taxation of said expenses. And Goverment would get every penny of it. Make sense?
Oh jeeez! Thanks. Lucky for us there is nobody in this country out there breaking any laws to pay less tax right now! In late March no less! Whew! And those who have, are all locked up. And with the DOJ we have now… well some people better step up and take notice by God!!!
Hey.
I don't want to argue the Fair Tax with you or insult you. Yes! It could all work out to be better, But you have way too many i's to dot and t's to cross. Expecially if you think you've come up with system that can't be beat or bought.
Remember. At your peril.
Anne from GE here. Factual corrections are in order, starting with your categorically false claim of purported bribery. As we informed the Times (and you can read for yourself at the link below) neither GE nor the GE Foundation (the charitable organization) discussed with Congressman Rangel or his staff the grant to New York City schools before the GE Foundation decided to make the grant. These grants target at-need districts based on the percentage of students who receive free or subsidized lunches. I encourage you to read our full response here: http://www.gereports.com/setting-the-record-strai...
I hope that he has the best security money can buy, because that is a voice we can't afford to have silenced.
But he's striking on so many of the themes playing in my mind about nation-states, culture, and freedom that I just don't see coming out of any of our potential "leaders."
"Multi-culturalism" is a wicked curse. I can defend that fact with logic and detail for days, but it goes even deeper than just logic. I can feel it in my bones. I KNOW it to be true.
It's just nice to hear a clear voice out there making the case, even if it is coming from the Netherlands and not so much from the United States.
To continue…
•GE pays what it owes and complies with all tax laws. At the same time, we have a responsibility to our shareholders to reduce our tax costs as the law allows. This is not unlike how individual taxpayers avail exemptions for which they qualify to legally reduce their tax burden.
•Significant losses at our financial services business during the economic crisis reduced GE’s overall tax rate below historic levels the past few years. Those losses and the subsequent reduction in taxes owed is not a “tax avoidance” strategy. If you take out the unusual GE Capital losses during what most consider to be the worst economic downturn in the past 80 years (2008-2010), GE’s effective tax rate was 21% over the period.
Finally….
• Over the past 10 years, GE has paid almost $23 billion of corporate income taxes to governments around the world, making it one of the highest payers of corporate income taxes. We paid over $14 billion of income taxes over the past 5 years alone.
•The IRS audits all GE tax filings. In some cases, GE’s recent rates have been lowered in part because of settlements with the IRS where the service determined GE had in fact OVERPAID for prior years.
Yes, many like myself haven't thought about it that deeply, but understand intuitively that somethig is amiss from changes we see occurring around us every day and in the news.
Another small example: I recently tuned into a Fox News streaming livecast of a mayor in Florida, which is still part of the United States last I heard. I couldn't understand most of the news conference because the mayor and many of the reporters were conversing in spanish.
The Balkanization of citizens using identity politics is a favorite ploy of progressive divide-and-conquer strategies. Then there are the Islamists trying to quietly insert Sharia into our system wherever possible under guise of multicultarilism. Exagerration? Here we have a Seattle cartoonist having to go into the equivalent of the Witness Protection Program for putting an "everybody draw Mohammed day" post on Facebook as a lark.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39270
It only makes sense if you are Posting that the USA already incorporates a VAT, because you Posted what takes place in the USA now.
GE's Jeffrey Immelt fits right in with the rest of the tax avoiders currently in the Obama administration. I have no problem with US corporations minimizing their Federal taxes as long as those savings are put back into jobs and research based in the US. It appears as though GE was gaming the tax system while GE jobs moved offshore.
In addition, this is a company that got $16 billion in loans from the US government in the form of a bailout. If they are not willing to pay its share, why should the goverment allow them to take from those of us who actually pay all of our taxes (and apparently theirs).
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti...
Anne- Thanks for clearing that up. This whole thread is sounding a little libral to me- Make the rich guy pay! I just want them to hire hire hire! We had a plant close to where I live. The unions (remember conservatives- the real bad guys?) had made employing in the area way too expensive so the entire factory moved overseas. It's now a mall, but no one in the area has any money to spend there.
Sure is and what it all boils down to no matter how you tax is the consumer will always wind up taking the burden of the tax bill. Someone down thread suggest no tax on production, only consumption… or perhaps a National Sales tax- you don't spend it you don't get taxed. That way perhaps people get more enthusiatic about savings? Anything will suit as long as the IRS is finally abolished. We got to stop allowing the bureaucracies to win.
"I have no problem with US corporations minimizing their Federal taxes"….
as long as they do not promote policies that tax the rest of us to death.
For me, that is the real problem i have with GE. It's like the hollywood elites; minimize your own taxes but then run cry "tax cuts for the rich" about every effort to rain in federal spending.
And the IRS is hiring by the 1000s — to enforce Obamacare.
Ooh, I like that even better.
Aha, then the flat tax approach does not allow the self-employed to deduct their business expenses and capital investment?
In other words, say business A sells $100,000 and spends no money to do that. They pay $10,000 in tax.
Business B sells $100,000 but spends $10,000 on R&D, $20,000 on cost of goods sold, and $20,000 for office equipment, rent, etc.. They too pay $10,000 (10% of $100,000).
This approach encourages businesses NOT to invest in the future but to make as much as possible this year. We might as well forget about long-term planning and investment.
Well, I can't say it any better than Wilders did, but "multiculturalism" destroys ALL cultures. It produces the exact opposite of what it portends to produce (not unlike all "progressive" liberal lies).
"Multiculturalists" will claim that they want to elevate all cultures to the same level. But they will spend all of their efforts in DIMINISHING the ACTUAL culture that exists in any given country, rather than elevating anything. They will claim that they believe "all cultures" are equal, but then seek to destroy any culture that disagrees with their own views. They are, by their very nature, antithetical to any "cultural identity," outside of the cultural identity of NO cultural identity. They are, then, by their own definition, a culture of their own; superior to any culture that has existed before them. It's actually very sad.
In defense of "culture," I have had the pleasure of traveling to many parts of the world. And the one thing that has enlivened me about the world is the DIFFERENCES in cultures throughout the world. The very idea that I might travel to a foreign country and experience a McDonald's restaurant did me no service. What I wanted was to experience a DIFFERENT culture; a different cuisine. That's what made it "special."
But the goal of the "multiculturalist" is not to "elevate the special." It is instead to dilute ANYTHING that's "special." To DESTROY "cultures."
And I don't care if we talk about the cultural aspects of the historic Lawrence of Arabia, or the American cultural version seen in I Dream of Jeannie. The very aspect of appreciating the cultures of other people relies on a basic premise that the "multiculturalists" lack. And that is, REAL respect for "other" cultures. The very idea of elevating other cultures for their uniqueness and "mystique."
THAT'S what I want to hear from some of our leaders. Respect for other cultures, without the sacrifice of our own.
"This approach encourages businesses NOT to invest in the future but to make as much as possible this year. We might as well forget about long-term planning and investment."
Isn't that the plan? Circuitously and incrementally "cashing out" of all those who create jobs?
I believe that the "flat taxers" do not understand the real impact of their approach.
They're thinking only of how it might affect wage earners, not how it would affect the self-employed and businesses.
GE, the best friend Obama ever had. Birds of a feather flock together. Meanwhile people out here are struggling to pay their bills. This is not OUR America. We're going to fix that. Socialist Dems- Start packing!
R&D is how a company can make 5 Billion in profit, and pay no Tax.
The Painter can just say he is trying to come up with a faster drying paint (R&D) and pay no tax at all for the rest of his lifetime….. even after making many millions in profit.
The people who work at Business B need to go to School, study hard, work hard, and perhaps one day they will own Business A.
Cleaning up this issue is key to us getting our Country back. Time to clean house.
That would be a case that could make a Hero out of the prosecutor and save our health and make Americans very happy! Kind of a "no brainer" to we who think logically, and a "no BRAIN" to the socialist Dems.
Right. We just get to breathe the mercury vapors. Talk about the world being backwards. The "greenies" develop a toxic light bulb….You can't make this stuff up!
Good call. I haven't really considered alternative taxation methods much but you're right about that. Are you sure you didn't mean "flatliners?"
With no Income Tax at all, the percentage for a consumption tax would be about 50%, which is doable.
I would not mind everyone in the United States of America paying 50% more for food, gas (for those who drove) as well as all other goods, as long as everyone who worked for a living paid no Income Tax at all.
It pays to be buddies with Captain Clueless, the most corrupt, lying, incompetent "president" in our history. Tricky Dick Nixon looks like a choir boy next to this bozo! Also, hiring one of the biggest and most expensive lobbying groups is helpful too. Why are the Liberal Loons not wailing and moaning about the TENS OF THOUSANDS OF JOBS THAT THIS COMPANY HAS SENT OVERSEAS? They were going ballistic when jobs were lost under Bush! Now, not a WORD in the Lame Stream Media. Frickin' Hypocrites!!
Pfft! Progagandist MORON!
Anne —
It would be informative to watch a discussion on all this between someone like yourself and an alternate viewpoint who is equally familiar with the fine points of GE financial statements, such as the reporter in the story above. For example, a discussion of any bailout money provided to GE, how was that spent, was it repaid, the % of profits earned overseas during the 2009 downturn, etc. I'm doubtful anyone on this board has the detailed knowledge to debate those things. If a GE official arranges something like that on some media outlet, please let us know.
Most here do not begrudge anyone trying to lawfully minimize tax payments. But it's pretty infuriating to constantly discover those in Washington who advocate higher taxes for the rest of us constantly stepping on or over the line to avoid their own share. That includes Rangel, Kerry — and our own IRS / Treasury chief — Timothy Geithner, to name only a few. It's also been observed that the Obama administration tends to impose general cost increases, such as Obamacare, then grant waivers to those costs to his supporters. None of that has any direct bearing on GE tax payments, but that fact, plus GE's close relationship with the Obama administration, among other things, is the background for the rest of us when this subject is raised.
Anne from GE here: While all the information you reference is available in our public filings, let me answer quickly on a few things you raise.
GE did not receive any "bailout" money. We did not participate in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), therefore there was no money for us to "repay" or explain "how it was spent."
We like many other companies did participate in the Temporary Loan Guarantee Program (TLGP), whereby the government agreed to guarantee loans against default at the height of the crisis to restore faith in the lending markets and ensure liquidity. GE subsequently guaranteed the government's guarantee (that is we backstopped its backstop) and we paid TO the government over $2.3 billion in fees to participate in the program. I fail to see how our paying TO THE TREASURY (e.g. US taxpayers) more than $2 billion qualifies as a bailout. But then, as another poster has alleged, I'm apparently a "propagandist moron."
Finally, regarding percentage of profits earned overseas during the 2009 downturn, I'm afraid I can't identify earnings (profits) per se as I don't have that to hand. I can tell you in terms of revenues (sales before costs, etc.), sales to countries outside the United States represented just about half of our total sales in 2009, including some $18 billion in American-made products exported to other countries.
Try passing cap and trade now, m-fers.
So, about 2 billion a year? So that's about a 20% tax rate, which is lower than the corportate tax rate. How did they over pay then?
We are supposed to believe anything Charlie Rangel has to say. Yeah right!!!! What a joke.
Well, you guys keep producing those mercury filled lightbulbs.
This is also the very same GE that have donated money to Iran to help kill our troops.
Great Anne, so tell this to all the progs who scream your company doesn't pay enough taxes. Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be straightening out the HuffPuff crowd given they are the ones claiming your company avoided taxes?
Yes, 20% is lower than the statutory rate. That’s why it’s called our “effective” rate – it includes legal offsets, deductions, in some cases credits for things like our roughly $4.5-5 billion in R&D investment each year.Just as you claim exemptions for which you are qualified that reduce in some measure the income tax you pay as an individual, companies are legally entitled to certain deductions/credits, etc. that tend to lower their rates below the “statutory” level. You may not like it, but that’s what the US Tax Code permits. Would you rather have American companies ignore the tax code and just voluntarily offer to pay more than they owe? Sounds great for competitiveness.
The problem here really is the sad state of the tax code in the US. There is no reason in the world that anyone or any company should not take advantage of loopholes and wiggle room left by our trusted civil servants"?". We all would if we could but the difference is the government grabs our money before we actually get it. This is not true of most companies. They get to "massage" it first to their advantage. What I do know is that if a regular guy lives in another country and he has gainful employment he still pays taxes to the IRS at the regular rate (less any to the country he works in may collect) He doesn't have to return home with the cash before he's dinged (unlike a company that can keep their profits, or income, overseas) . There's always one situation for the rich, who can pay for top notch advice and pay for it before taxes and one for us where we have to pay our accountant after the IRS takes their cut. The only answer, flat tax, today! Nobody rides for free and everyone has "skin in the game" as The Zero likes to say.
I’m here because I so enjoy your company…. But you’re right. I am wasting my time. There seems to be little interest in debating facts on this thread. So much more fun to lob ill-informed grenades and perpetuate half-truths….In my worldview, facts still count for something.
And that's what environmental movement is REALLY all about folks
LOL at GE sending one of their mouthpiece lawyers to propagandize on their behalf
"The consumer is paying the taxes. Every congresscritter knows this"
Think you might be giving them too much credit.
Even easier soution: Fair Tax
Please. They know who butters their bread. They may be stupid about everything else, but they've learned where money comes from and how to get more of it.
There is no reason to tax a business. Period. It's a consumer tax. Every single time. GE's "green credits" are just more smoke and mirrors. People calling for their heads on a platter are only fooling themselves.
I'm watching a weird sort of class-envy being drummed up by the Right and pretty soon we'll have young people burning down our cities, just like London, blaming everything on business. I can't believe Breitbart is on board with this.
Ditto. I used to be in the flat tax camp but Fair Tax has the added bonus of bringing in more revenue for the govt than ANY other system and eliminates the IRS.
But politicians would lose their easiest means of drumming up support (playing class war with the income brackets and buying votes through tax loopholes
"I would not mind everyone in the United States of America paying 50% more for food, gas (for those who drove) as well as all other goods, as long as everyone who worked for a living paid no Income Tax at all"
That's the idea. All income and property taxes would go away.
"Yes you should see the lefties scream about how evil corps don't pay taxes"
Well actually, they don't. The shareholders just get taxed twice. But the main reason why people become lefties is they have no idea how basic economics and business work.
Well it would appear we’re number one for something, in a sick liberal type of way.
Why don't you also talk about some other facts like your lobbying efforts to provide GE with favorable tax loopholes that benefit you even more…or how about the fact that many of your tax dept employees used to work for the IRS so they know the ins and outs of the tax system especially for corporations. Legal? Sure, but unfair to the rest of us? YOU BET!!
Anne —
Well, here we go. You're obviously knowledgeable about these things, and I don't share the view that you're a "propagandist moron". On the other hand, you obviously are not a disinterested party in this, and it would be about as useful for me to discuss financial statements, TLGP participation and overseas earnings with you as it would be for me to try and discuss the inner workings of a timing valve with my auto mechanic before he handed me a bill. In either case, I'm not about to stop everything else in my life to try to become an expert at timing valves, nor of GE public filings.
As I said at the start, a much quicker way to get at the truth is for a few equally knowlegeable people with opposing viewpoints to debate publicly, and what's relevant and true will become obvious quickly enough to the rest of us. For those reasons, with all due respect, I don't think you will persuade many here by listing details from financial statements. I hope to see GE respond in a more suitable forum that we all can learn from.
So, when are you GOP rank-and-file going to give up your misguided love for corporations? You are dupes.
Well said. Thanks for chance to offer my two cents, such as they are. I respect this forum’s right to carry on its business without my continued corporate flacking, even if it is what I do for my day-job.Kind regards. Anne
Must be spring.
The mushrooms are sprouting.
Our 4th estate tends to look the other way when events, that outraged them when done by Republicans, is done by Democrats.
The GE/ Obama "tango" is so much more blatant and obvious than the Cheney/ Halliburton connection.
Ann
If you have a job (doubtful), it's probably a corporation.
You like your car, your computer, your cell phone? All made by "EVIL" corporations.
Grow TF up, little man…
If you have a job (doubtful), it's probably a corporation.
You guys can't keep your propaganda straight – how many times do we hear it is actually "small businesses" that employ most?
I was talking about YOU.
Small business', for the most part, are for self reliant, bull by the horns types.
You, I am convinced, are a cubical worker, paper shuffller, of some sort, working for some faceless nameless "corporation" of unknown size.
then again, you're most likely unemployable….
and thanks for thumbing everyone down..motard..
You must be logged in to post a comment.