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Jewish World Review Jan. 24, 2011 / 19 Shevat, 5771 Jeffery Immelt: A Crony Capitalist In Charge of Job Creation By Arnold Ahlert
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
As we head into the 2012 election campaign, it is critically important for Republicans to make Americans aware of the difference between genuine free-market capitalism and "crony capitalism." The former is practiced by those Americans who wish to succeed by taking risks, working hard and, most importantly, playing by the rules. The latter are people who "already have theirs" and want to keep up-and-coming potential competitors at bay, using government as a club to do so. Exhibit A for the cronies? Newly-appointed head of the newly-created President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt.
Mr. Immelt has made no secret of his intention to advance the fortunes of General Electric using government contracts as his vehicle of choice. Thus, it was no coincidence that NBC TV, which is owned by GE, has run a three-year "Going Green" advertising campaign, promoting an agenda which directly benefits the parent company. Were such an ad campaign limited to news and information shows it would be bad enough. But NBC also slipped pro-environmental messages into the scripts of its prime-time television line-up, with shows such as "The Biggest Loser," "The Office," "Heroes," "Community," and "30 Rock" in the mix.
Beginning in 2007, General Electric was also directly involved in the successful campaign to eliminate incandescent lights bulbs, a reality partly occurring in California already, and one which will be in full force nationwide by 2014. They did this because they are very well-positioned to manufacture the incandescent bulb's replacement, compact fluorescents. Those are the bulbs which have been laughingly touted as "good for the environment," even though they contain enough mercury that, if one breaks, cleaning up the breakage entails haz-mat disposal procedures. Bad enough, but here's the capper: on September 8, 2010, GE shut down its last incandescent bulb factory in the United States, laying off 200 American workers in the process. Where will they be manufacturing their new fluorescent bulbs?
In China.
Such a reality is an integral part of GE's "Ecomagination" strategy, which is nothing more than crony capitalism on steroids. Backing both the Obama administration's health care bill and their "green jobs" agenda is a ham-fisted effort by GE to promote its products, such as medical equipment, solar panels and the aforementioned light bulbs. Immelt is so confident about his company's "special" relationship with the Obama administration that, according to Fox News, he has "consistently argued to shareholders that there is big money to be made in advancing the Democratic agenda." Not the American agenda. The statist, crony capitalist, corporation-nationalizing, Obama administration agenda. The one which most recently demonstrated that agenda by granting waivers from the health care bill to over 200 "favored" constituencies, including unions in favor of the bill.
The one in which government, not the marketplace, determines "winners" and "losers."
How good are Immelt's credentials regarding job creation? During his tenure, GE has seen a decline in the number of its employees, and its stock underperform the Dow and the S&P by 60%. More importantly, GE was given a $139 billion government bailout for its lending subsidiary, GE Capital, during the financial crisis. All of this begs an obvious question: in a country filled with genuine job creators, how does a man who arguably brought one of America's largest corporations to its knees get appointed as the leader of job creation for the Obama administration? Perhaps the only thing more surreal is the president's statement regarding Immelt's appointment: "Jeff Immelt's experience at G.E. and his understanding of the vital role the private sector plays in creating jobs and making America competitive makes him up to the challenge of leading this new council."
Spare me. Jeffery Immelt may be the biggest government-anointed "winner" of all.
And perhaps, as a result of Mr. Immelt's new appointment, we may have our first "loser" as well. On Friday night, MSNBC staple, Keith Olbermann, abruptly announced he was leaving that network's highest-rated news show — effective immediately. Coincidence? There is speculation Olbermann lost his job due to NBC's merger with Comcast, in which NBC retains a 49% share of the company to Comcast's' 51%. But Comcast spokesman, Jeremy Gaines, was having none of it. "We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal's news operations. We have not and we will not," he said. MSNBC claimed Mr. Olbermann had simply reached the end of his contract and it would not be renewed.
Yet there was also a troubling NY Times article written in 2009, which claims a deal was brokered between FOX chairman Rupert Murdoch and Immelt to tamp down an ongoing between TV hosts Olbermann and Fox's Bill O'Reilly. The feud apparently extended to railing against the corporate leaders of both companies. Part of O'Reilly's salvos included references to GE's legal sales of energy and medical technology to Iran, which resulted in hundreds of angry emails being sent to GE. The company claims its business relationship with the Islamic republic has ceased. After the meeting, the attacks by both men reportedly stopped. Draw your own conclusions.
Unfortunately, America itself is also a loser. The President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness replaces the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board which had been led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker. Volker was highly instrumental in helping Ronald Reagan's administration undo America's last economic catastrophe, courtesy of America's last radical leftist president, Jimmy Carter. Yet Volker was virtually ignored by the administration during his tenure. Why? Try this statement he made in 2009:
"I do not think it reasonable that public money — taxpayer money — be indirectly available to support risk-prone capital market activities simply because they are housed within a commercial banking organization. Heavy proprietary trading almost inevitably entails risks. I want to question any presumption that the federal safety net, and financial support, will be extended beyond the traditional commercial banking community."
Translation: let the crony capitalists sink or swim on their own — without being able to pick the pockets of the American taxpayer.
So Volker is out and "job creator" Jeffrey Immelt is in — and a certain political commentator with a loose cannon reputation will no longer be around to possibly dub him the "Worst Person in the World." America's unemployment problem? A crony capitalist fox is in charge of the job-generating henhouse. It's up to House Republicans to remind Americans about this unholy alliance every chance they get. It's up to Americans themselves to use the 2012 election to finish the job they started in 2010. Free-market capitalism is the greatest economic system the world has ever known. What we're getting from the Obama administration is a cruel joke.
Sadly, the joke's on us.
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© 2010, Arnold Ahlert |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||||
