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143 Comments
- dikky, on 06/29/2009, -11/+108start throwing these executives in prison for 50 years and see how fast these companies become honest
- NorthMass, on 06/29/2009, -8/+79GE should be ashamed of itself. And hopefully those on MSNBC call out their owners for this ridiculousness. I am looking at you, Keith Olbermann.
- MidnightTide, on 06/30/2009, -2/+56The entire bailout mess was a load of ***** in the first place.
- gbudavid, on 06/29/2009, -24/+77GE owns MSNBC and Contributed Heavily to the Obama campaign both in manpower and money. not to mention all the free air time. plus a reporter that said Obama gave him a tingle/tinkle down his leg. Any correlation??
- danthepiercer, on 06/30/2009, -1/+41so ***** disgusted with this 'same *****, different corporation' crap.
didnt have the stomach to finish the article...tell me if im missing something. - mouthbreether, on 06/29/2009, -1/+32FTA: "The company did not initially qualify for the program, under which the government sought to unfreeze credit markets by guaranteeing debt sold by banking firms. But regulators soon loosened the eligibility requirements, in part because of behind-the-scenes appeals from GE."
It's not just GE that's to blame. It's our lovely government too.
Also, it's not a lack of honesty when they operate in accordance with the law. If there is a loophole then it is the rule and the enforcement of rules that is bad. GE doesn't make the rules (or relax regulations), government does. - drmangrum, on 06/29/2009, -3/+33This is what happens when you speed a bill through Congress.
Now, what kind of loopholes and shenanigans are we going to see from the climate change bill (that nobody read) that was just passed? - Number23, on 06/30/2009, -1/+28So shoveling billions of tax payer dollars at failing corporations was a bad idea...?
- Ninh, on 06/29/2009, -5/+24As a competitor of companies like Siemens, the EU should possibly consider leveraging some tariffs against GE products to re-balance the competitive landscape.
- kemp34, on 06/29/2009, -1/+20Capitalism = government guaranteeing a corporations debt???
Come on now... - hiphoc, on 06/30/2009, -0/+17Dont want to spoil the end for you.. but We lose!
- Gudeldar, on 06/30/2009, -5/+21GE also owns CNBC which has been highly critical of Obama. Any correlation??
- NYankee2003, on 06/29/2009, -1/+16your senator doesn't give a *****. one of his interns will sort your letter into the appropriate pile and print the associated form letter. if one doesn't exist, the intern will write a new form letter because the Finance staffer is too busy to deal with the thoughts of a peon like you. then, your letter will the thrown out. neither your senator, nor anyone of consequence will read your letter, much less care what it says. it won't even be tallied or totaled with other letters also written to oppose bailouts. i know, i used to be that intern.
- dkitch, on 06/30/2009, -0/+15Just one of the many loopholes corporate interests and the wealthy exploit so that the rich get richer at the expense of the rest of us. If you don't believe me, read Perfectly Legal by David Cay Johnson (http://www.amazon.com/Perfectly-Legal-Campaign-Ben ... Good book on how we're all getting screwed by loopholes
- scamper22, on 06/30/2009, -3/+17This is what limited government was meant to prevent.
I know many think government is there to 'protect' them from other evils.
Yet it is no surprise that the more you empower government, the more those in power and those with power can use it to get even more power.
I don't blame GE. The American people have only themselves to blame. You keep empowering government and then you are surprised to see that power abused.
You empowered George Bush with 'war powers' and then you are 'surprised' that Abu Ghraib happened.
You empowered Obama to centralize the economy and you are 'surprised' that this happened.
freedom is the best check and balance and accountability you can ever have. - nmessick, on 06/30/2009, -1/+14GE is also stands to profit in a huge way from Cap and Trade programs... wonder why they've been running so many commercials promoting their green agenda?
- ousthouse, on 06/30/2009, -0/+13Lets throw the guys who are throwing taxpayer cash at the company into prison instead.
- hiphoc, on 06/30/2009, -1/+13So let me get this straight. GE's capital arm started during the great depression to help people buy appliances. The only thing was that after the depression, the GE Capital never went away. This goes to show that when governments and corporations start programs during "hard times", those programs never go away. Then we the people grow up with a noose around our necks.
I wonder the effect the bailouts, increased Fed powers, Carbon Credit trading etc will have in 80 years. - EZLA, on 06/29/2009, -4/+16This is a payoff........plain and simple. Let them give the money back like all the others that had to raise money.
Open their books lets see what's inside them. I betcha there is a lot more than consumer loans. In a free market all rules are equal or it was until this administration.
When Jack Welsh ran this company there were no loses due to tanked overseas investments deep-sixth with household loans.
I'm writing my Senator if GE gets any Government handouts via bids on Health or Energy legislation I want an investigation as to collusion. - kanojo1969, on 06/30/2009, -0/+12Did you actually read the article? GE isn't doing anything wrong; not legally, and not morally either. They are not getting free money, just huge sums at cheap rates, so they can lend more freely.
They have paid more than a billion in fees to FDIC already and the FDIC guy says that the government is turning a profit overall.
The real issue here is the way in which GE qualified itself for the program, the flexibility that the FDIC showed to them and not to other competing finance companies. But if GE can qualify because they own some tin-pot S&L somewhere, then the other guys can just buy one for themselves and qualify too?
I don't know, this is probably cronyism and corruption in practise where the result isn't all that bad. I think there's a LOT more outright theft going on in TARP than in the program they are talking about here. - ninjaturtles1, on 06/30/2009, -2/+14That's just smart business by GE.
- alamedaman, on 06/30/2009, -0/+12I wonder who will defend this boondoggle ***** bailout now?
- Jaq524, on 06/30/2009, -0/+10"The Obama administration now wants to close such loopholes as it works to overhaul the financial system. The plan would reaffirm and strengthen the wall between banking and commerce, forcing companies like GE to essentially choose one or the other."
... - Leonffs, on 11/20/2009, -0/+10for what? It may be immoral but its the law. The people who should be thrown in jail are the idiots that write this legislation, and the other idiots that don't even bother to read it.
- mrgeekguy, on 06/30/2009, -0/+10"Citigroup, the troubled banking giant, also was pressing for an expansion of the FDIC program. Though Citigroup was included in the debt guarantee program, its main finance arm, Citigroup Funding, appeared ineligible. Fed Vice Chairman Donald L. Kohn wrote to the FDIC's Bair on Oct. 21, arguing that debt issued by Citigroup Funding should be covered "as if it were issued directly by Citigroup, Inc."
Two days later, the FDIC announced a new category of eligible applicants -- "affiliates" of an FDIC-insured institution. Bair explained that "there may be circumstances where the program should be extended" to keep credit markets flowing. That meant "certain otherwise ineligible holding companies or affiliates that issue debt" could apply, she said.
GE Capital now was eligible. "
This was approved under Bush and his cronies. - inactive, on 06/30/2009, -0/+9GE... We bring good things to life! (For us and our statist friends, that is)
- robertisaar, on 06/30/2009, -0/+9we always lose... :sad:
- jeffiek, on 06/29/2009, -2/+11And bank robbers should be ashamed of themselves. Don't hold your breath.
Now the regulators, those charged with protecting your interests, should also be ashamed of themselves. Don't hold your breath on that one either.
GE is doing what it is supposed to do - make (or try to make) money legally. This may seem not seem pleasant, but it is functional.
The government and the regulators, on the other hand, are NOT doing what they are supposed to do. They are not functioning. These "loopholes" weren't written by GE. Even if they were requested by GE, the job of the government is to say NO. Either way, it ain't GE that's broken.
What needs fixing is not the functional, it is the non-functional. - asdf2000, on 06/30/2009, -1/+9It's all corrupt. Everything. All the big banks, all the big business. all the big government.
People haven't realized it yet? - kukurio, on 06/30/2009, -1/+9Well, the TGLP was started in October 2008, before Obama's election. It's unclear from the article how soon thereafter GE became one of its beneficiaries, but that's certainly not stopping you from making unfounded accusations. "OMG! The 323,000 employees of GE collectively gave $479,454 to Obama's campaign? He must have been bought!"
God, some people are dumb. *prepares to be buried by the neocon bury brigade for bringing facts into a thread where people are thinking with their gut* - inactive, on 06/30/2009, -2/+10I can not wait to see the corruption and insider trading that goes on with the new carbon credits. Universal health care is going to drain the country dry.
It's kind of like Raz Al Gul in Batman Begins, sometimes you got to burn everything down if you want to rebuild. - RyFo18, on 06/30/2009, -0/+8It's GE's fault that the government lets them do it. GE isn't stealing any money, the government is willingly handing it to them.
- pwner, on 06/30/2009, -1/+9Or maybe Cramer is just a moron
- xGORDOx, on 06/30/2009, -2/+9Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric is an Obama Econimc Advisor.
Just so you know, in case the outrage from the past eight years decides to manifest outside of partisan politics and actually grow from some real principles. - inactive, on 06/30/2009, -1/+8I'm so shocked. I was certain these bailouts would work.
- thcobbs, on 06/30/2009, -1/+7The executives aren't the problem... It's congress being able to pass laws in less time than it takes to print up the revised copies so the President can sign it in time for some ***** holiday.
You guys bitched and moaned about how republicans ran things, but when everyone voted in the democrats to both houses of congress and the white house, everyone was happy.
Then ***** gets rushed through AGAIN; it benefits some corporate elite, and y'all want to hang the corporations... not the people who made it POSSIBLE in the first place.
Nice.
Here's a tip... the US government ALWAYS ***** stuff up when there is one party that has the majority to rubber stamp laws. Republicans, Democrats, whatever. It's ALWAYS A BAD IDEA!
They may be "Championing the cause of their mandate", but you know what... its not the intended consequences that cause the most damage.... its always the unintended ones.
You got your President and your Congress. Don't bitch to me who voted for myself for president and voted for the opposition on all my current "representatives" in congress. - mrsteveman1, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5Lets throw all of them in prison.
- DigitalisAkujin, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6The difference is, GE wasn't mismanaged and it never fell into ruin. It's a profitable company that pays a lot of taxes to the US government. It's getting a lot of contracts right now from the government but that's only a portion of it's total sales.
- xGORDOx, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5Loopholes in the Climate Change Bill?
For a company like GE with a green initiative "Healthymagination" and a little media outlet known as the Weather Channel?
Probabaly many many many loopholes.
Jerffrey Immelt, the CEO of GE is an Obama Economic Advisor afterall. - ninjaturtles1, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5Exactly!
- drifter, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5Keith Olbermann? He will just go on a tirade of how this is still all Bush's fault somehow. Also I wouldn't be ashamed if I found a way to get a really cheap loan, due to a loophole. It's called business.
- lcapella, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4"When you open the floodgates, you can't tell the water where to go."
This is a perfect example of unintended consequences coming from government action.
Government passes a law or regulation, negative unintended consequences develop, and so they pass another "patch" to fix it, and then the cycle repeats. - bunk3rk1ng, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4Your favorite document is the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 that was passed by Congress and signed by President Woodrow Wilson?
That's so interesting. Thanks for sharing. - Wakkyweed, on 06/30/2009, -2/+6That sounds like good news to me! Of course, I own 15k in GE stock.
- deema1, on 06/30/2009, -1/+5My favorite document is the one that gives our federal government the power to lend money.
- Moonkeeper, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4Government loans are not free market.
- meyert11, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3no
- TINZUSA, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4We are all fodder for rich corporations. It seems we have no society values whatsoever .... just a load of slaves, with an extra harsh tax burden for life (including our children) to keep rich people in a utopian bubble all of their own. This is not the way I want to live. Sad.
- Jaq524, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3Uh, RTFA
- buffalogums, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3EITHER Obama is a complete ignorant buffoon with no clue what treachery the people around him are concocting OR he knows exactly how he is extracting record amounts money from taxpayers and sliding it under the table to the creeps at GM and the investment banks.
Either way, ***** you Obama. You, the senate, and the house can all eat ***** and die. Enjoy the next couple of years, its all you have before the American people unanimously toss you out on your ass. -
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