Technology & Finance
GE Chief Takes on China, Obama
I kind of liked seeing that Jeffrey Immelt criticized China as hostile to foreign businesses, and President Obama as hostile to American businesses, even if a GE spokesman did claim the day after that he didn’t really say what he said, or didn’t mean to, whatever.
Getting some debate out in the open would be a refreshing change for companies, especially with the Supreme Court ruling giving them free rein in campaign finance. If corporations want freedom of speech, how about if they speak out rather than spending? (The Washington Examiner reported GE was the largest single corporate lobbyist, spending $7.1 in the last quarter. )
Speaking at a private event in Italy, he said the US has become apathetic exporter and needs to become an industrial powerhouse once again, “but you don’t do this when government and entrepreneurs are not in synch.”
In the Financial Times, Clive Crook said business doesn’t really have much to complain about.
“They should be thanking Mr. Obama for his restraint,” he wrote. He quotes Ivan Seidenberg, head of Verizon, who complained that ‘ “By reaching into virtually every sector of economic life, government is injecting uncertainty into the marketplace and making it harder to raise capital and create new businesses,’ he said.
He had previously been viewed as an Obama ally.
But where is the business leadership, as opposed to the whining?
“...you cannot help noticing that CEOs have little constructive to say on any of those policy issues. According to Mr Seidenberg, for instance, they want a smaller budget deficit – plus lower taxes and more investment in infrastructure and education. If you want to dispel uncertainty, you have to do better than that.”
Meanwhile the US Chamber of Commerce “called for the White House to extend the Bush administration’s annual $55bn (£36bn) worth of tax cuts for the rich, set to expire at the end of the year, and to cut the corporate tax rate and pass pending bilateral trade deals.”
Ah, there’s some ground breaking innovation in thinking. At a time when the share of America wealth going to the top 1 percent is reaching levels not seen since just before the Great Depression, the Chamber can’t do better than serve as an echo chamber for the Bush administration’s continued call to lighten the tax burden on the very rich.
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