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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Jeffrey Immelt to Lead a ‘Jobs Committee’?

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 21st, 2011 at 10:13 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The President of the United States is doing what liberals do best — creating a committee to figure out why his liberal policies aren’t creating jobs.

Who is he putting in charge? Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of GE, also known as Keith Olbermann’s boss.

Since Mr. Immelt took over GE, we’ve seen its financial business bailed out by the federal government, its total number of workers decline, and its stock underperform the Dow and S&P 500 by 60%.

In other words, Mr. Obama wants to put in charge of job creation a man who has done his level best to contribute to high unemployment of the middle class, while subsidizing failed leftwing pundits at MSNBC.

For specifics, by the way, Immelt has reduced GE’s employment by 20% over nine years and, most hysterically, he’s sold off lots of its union run pieces. Can’t blame him for that!

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COMMENTS

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  • rick_hoelzer

    It seems we would put the most successful business people on committees rather than “professors” and failures. The best would be those who have failed but risen above their failures. Leave the theorists at home or in their classrooms.

  • fpete13527

    Obama puts Immelt, (a radical leftist green jobs guy who sells to Iran), in charge of creating jobs for America.

    Obama government owned GM,sends millions to Mexico to create jobs for green engines while piling on EPA and Obamacare regulations that destroy all jobs in the private sector (except for leftist corporations like GE)

    Obama signs illegal censorship regulations to censor conservative free speech while promoting the GE run MessNBC to enhance their operations in order to enhance Marxism(Obama-ism) lies to further destroy the free market Capitalism (except for Marxist green Corps) in the U.S.

    Oh, and Obama elects energy Salazar and Browner to ensure all possible destruction of viable energy solutions, such as drilling and nuclear, in order to drive business, and the country overall, into bankruptcy and chaos….on purpose.

    Now I got it.

  • Scope

    didn’t appoint Immelt to accomplish anything. This was nothing more than political payback for a job well done in helping him to get elected, and to keep doing so for 2012.

  • lineholder

    of making an effort to address the jobs issue, and if the economy improves during the next year…maybe the general public will go back to their prior state of complacency, buy into “hopeandchange” again, and vote him in for another term.

  • johnt

    A weak PR stunt, like the summer jobs program that the schmuck Biden was conned into fronting for. What is more disturbing is that these fools actually might believe this crap about government creating jobs. The cretins in the media do.

  • Marcus_Traianus

    Look at the big picture. It’s all part of a grander strategy to get reelected.

    Obama has picked Daley and now Immelt. Guaranteed, there will be others to follow. Going into 2012 there will be a slightly improving economy and jobs situation. Almost none of it of course is due to anything Mr. Obama did, in fact it could have been much better without his intervention.

    But he is not playing to Republicans or any thinking person. He is playing to that vast malleable middle called “Independents”. Historical electoral politics and Obama’s own victory in 2008 shows that if he can win them back, he get’s another 4 years.

    Independents are generally swayed by the moment and superficial Executive moves. They do not have long memories and generally challenge any questioning or attack on the President’s actions as political. They also are generally disinterested in the details and late to figure out the truthful outcome- just like with Obama. They bought his election tripe- hook, line and sinker despite the evidence.

    Obama’s recent poll bump after the Tuscon speech shows his advisers this demographic is still up for grabs. So look for more trickling of moves, like Immelt, to show he is “moving to the middle”.

    In reality, Independents will probably easily forget that when Mr. Obama had all the levers of power, he took our country down a dangerous -un-American path. They will forget that Obama’s actions did not match his words and he dismissed democratic process in favor of ideology. They will forget his actions prolonged and may permanently damage our economy and position in the world. Very sad indeed.

    I hope Independents will try to imagine what another four years would be like when Mr. Obama never has to worry about facing the electorate again. It is our only hope.

  • lineholder

    If what our side presents for the nation’s future is better than what Obama presents, then will independents choose our plan over his?

    I think they would and could, but we have to present a solid plan that is realistic in what can be accomplished.

  • Right Reason

    . . .that Obama gets the result he wants – that more government intervention is needed. GE’ business used to be electrical appliances,finance, turbines and power generation equipment among other things. Recently, however, its chief business has been rent-seeking from government. GE’s support of the incandescent bulb ban is a perfect example. GE is a market leader in CFL bulbs. Through the ban, GE got the government to increase their market for them. No expensive marketing plan necessary. It also gave GE an out to close domestic plants making incandescent bulbs and shift production to CFL plants in Asia.

    Immelt will doubtless offer solutions to Obama which involve government intervention and our tax dollars. And in the end GE will stand to benefit.

  • Marcus_Traianus

    I only need to figure out who Zeppo is.

    If past is prologue, including the deal on Obama Tax Increases in January, I have zero confidence Republicans congressional comedy team has the stones to get it done.

  • lineholder

    right now either, Marcus, so I can agree with you on that point.

    But there could be other people who will stand up and speak out to present a better plan. If they do, there is still a chance that we can succeed.

    And as always, we the people have our voice in what we share with those around us.

    All I’m saying is that there is still cause to hope, and without it we will fail without trying.

  • sundesy

    This is the height of cronyism. In the normal world Immelt would have been fired unceremoniously. He made NBC as the mouth piece for Obama to save his hide. GE got Tarp money and was exempted from government interference. Now he is lending credibility to Obama?s pro-business pretention .

    Talk about blatant quid pro quo. No one with two digit IQ will buy this phony gimmick.

  • earlgrey

    other than GE stockholders?

  • http://westforwestwing2012.com heartlander

    And it’s also worth pointing out that since GE is the biggest marketer of wind turbines, GE is the prime beneficiary of the federal government’s subsidies for wind power. And if I’m not mistaken, those subsidies are the only thing that is keeping the wind-generator industry viable at this point in time,

    Is it possible to prosecute your own government for racketeering???

  • http://westforwestwing2012.com heartlander

    “Independent” is mostly just another word for “moron” — the people who don’t read or listen to news, are swayed by pure emotion, get vague impressions from what they hear people talking about at work, vote on the basis of looks or some other silly, superficial factor.

    These are the people who voted for Mondale/Ferraro because “oh, it’d be nice to have a woman as VP — and her name is Ferraro, so she must be Catholic, so she must be pro-life”…..

    You can bet these same folks voted for Obama because: “Oh, let’s have a black president, wouldn’t that be nice? And look, he’s so young, and aren’t his little girls so cute?”

    I’m sorry to admit that I sympathize with Neal Boortz’s ideas in this area. It’d be nice if people who care so little about their own government that they don’t even bother to follow the news were simply not allowed to vote!

  • runner12

    This screams dishonesty. The President of the United States gives TARP money to GE, a business that just happened to have contributed heavily to his 2008 campaign. In return, the guy joins some phony committe to make him appear pro-business and uses MSNBC to shill for Obama’s policies 24/7 and attack Obama’s political opponents. Talk about unethical.

  • neomom

    At least not the employee stock holders. Immelt is not beloved at the Meatball by the minions.

    Thoughts today were “Good, is he stepping down finally?”

  • neomom

    Wind ain’t thriving….

  • proudmarinemom

    will buy” it. We’re dealing with single digit IQs, I’m afraid. Look at the numbers. 47% of voters answer “Not sure” to the question “Do you agree or disagree that spending more money than you have will result in a deficit?”

    Therein lies the answer to the question “I wonder if appointing Immelt as Job Creation Czar will be good for Obama’s poll numbers?” You betcha. Time to start hoarding incandescent bulbs.

  • carolina

    that is bigger than their deficit reduction story. The biggest mistake they are making at the moment is too much focus on the deficit and not enough on GROWTH. (think Reagan)
    Besides…… the best way to reduce the deficit is to GROW the economy (because tax revenues have been around 18% of GDP for many years)

  • carolina

    that is bigger than their deficit reduction story. The biggest mistake they are making at the moment is too much focus on the deficit and not enough on GROWTH. (think Reagan)
    Besides…… the best way to reduce the deficit is to GROW the economy (because tax revenues have been around 18% of GDP for many years)

  • sharonmcp

    “When I am talking to GE managers, I talk China, China, China, China, China. You need to be there. You need to change the way people talk about it and how they get there. I am a nut on China. Outsourcing from China is going to grow to 5 billion. We are building a tech center in China. Every discussion today has to center on China. The cost basis is extremely attractive. You can take an 18 cubic foot refrigerator, make it in China, land it in the United States, and land it for less than we can make an 18 cubic foot refrigerator ourselves.”

    Jeffrey Immelt, quoted in an investor meeting, on December 6, 2002.

    And this, from a July 21, 2009 article in Huffington Post article.

    GE Promotes Manufacturing Jobs in US, Then Ships ‘em Overseas

    While Immelt was calling for manufacturing to stay in the U.S., his company was at the same time shipping manufacturing jobs overseas by canceling an order with an American-based wind turbine maker, ATI Casting Service in LaPorte, Ind., so that GE could instead buy the parts from a factory in China.

    Recently, ATI made $30 million worth of investments to buy, convert, and modernize a shuttered factory in economically ravaged Michigan so the company could provide more parts to GE as the green economy expands with federal stimulus funding. But a Chinese firm underbid ATI, and the factory faced having to lay off 302 union workers and shutter the plant.

    In an aggressive bid to keep the factory open, ATI offered to match the price of the Chinese producers. GE once again said they would prefer to buy from China. The ATI plant is now closed, the jobs gone.

    After Immelt pledged to create jobs in America, for him to make a U.S. company shed jobs so GE can buy Chinese goods for the same price is beyond hypocritical.

  • http://www.laborunionreport.com LaborUnionReport

    ?We are rewarding the guy who is turning off America’s lights, literally,? said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. ?Two of the plants on Immelt’s hit list made incandescent light bulbs. Replacement bulbs will be made in ? you guessed it ? China.?

    Even as Immelt was shuttering U.S. plants, he was cutting additional deals with the Chinese. In the past week alone, Immelt inked multi-billion dollar deals for 50 GE power plants in China, as well as a joint venture that will place GE’s most sophisticated cockpit avionics in the hands of a country that is poised to compete directly with U.S. aerospace manufacturers.

    ?The U.S. aerospace industry is currently one of the few with a positive impact on the nation’s balance of trade,? said Buffenbarger. ?We can ill afford to place it’s future in the hands of a man who is supporting it’s most determined competitor.?

    http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/press/machinists-question-immelt-jobs-agenda,1624035.html

  • edwyrd

    i’ll buy a bridge and sell tickets to A) people who want to jump off of it, and, B) tickets to those who want to watch,

  • edwyrd

    it is my firm belief that if we A) continuously bombard the public with legislative initiatives that highlight the DEBT AND OBAMACARE and B) use the selective shutdown strategy to battle obvious liberal economy strangling, job killing regulations and federal departments we can KICK OBAMAS ASS in 2012.we also must play a strong, union whacking, blow for blow ground game where we flatten the tires and pull the coil wires on their GOTV vans and buses, and wave as we drive by them in ours, which will be loaded with the very independents they so covet.

  • sharonmcp

    A quote from my husband, who has never been interested in politics until recently.

    “Let Immelt think he’s going to make me trade in my jackboots and God Bless America cap for chinese slippers and a Mao cap. He’ll find out how illuminating it can be to have one of GE’s curly lightbulbs shoved up a certain body orifice.”