Is anyone still kidding themselves this is about getting jobs for the U.S.? They can say anything they want, but the record speaks for itself:
After today’s program aired, a GE spokesman, Gary Sheffer, e-mailed a response: “GE has added 6,000 manufacturing jobs in the last two years in the U.S., we believe in free trade and we are a large exporter to China,” Sheffer said.
President Obama’s naming of General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt to a new post focused on creating US jobs has drawn cheers from the corporate community, and appears to reflects a change in tone from the White House with regard to big business.But the head of a leading manufacturing association told us on ABC’s “Top Line” that the president’s choice sends the wrong message to many of those who are currently out of work – who happen to be some of the same voters the president needs to win back.
“He could have done worse, but he certainly could have done a lot better,” Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, told us.
“I mean, Immelt has outsourced a ton of jobs. They’ve closed — GE has closed 29 factories in the last two years alone. And if you’re trying to send a signal to those white, working-class voters that left the Democratic Party in droves in November, naming one of the country’s leading outsourcers as your chief strategy guy on jobs — I don’t think was the smartest move.”
Among other critiques Paul had was that Immelt has not taken a hard enough line with regard to China, a particular focus of the administration this week with President Hu Jintao in Washington.
“There’s a lot of baggage there, and it’s not only in what GE has done,” Paul added. “And I mean there has been some … widely heralded moves by General Electric to open some clean-energy manufacturing facilities in the United States, but they’re still outsourcing more than they’re insourcing. GE has cut tens of thousands of jobs in this country over the last decade.”
“Meanwhile, they’ve created a lot of jobs abroad but beyond that, and I think what concerns me the most, is where Immelt is on some of this policy. I mean he says very good things about the need to invest in our infrastructure, our educational system, our innovation. But he’s pretty weak-kneed when it comes to trade. And he, you know, he favors free-trade deals, which are highly controversial. But the one thing that he’s not really willing to do is step up and get a little tough with China.”
I bet Obama’s working to ensure his own post-presidency income and, oh, say, well paid sinecures on boards, etc. Speaking fees to the right places at the right price….
Obama’s busy being what Obama’s always been, a center right corporate whore. Too bad nobody believed it during the primaries. Sometimes, I think all the hew and cry from the right; about Obama’s a communist, Obama’s a socialist, Obama’s the most liberal Senator, etc etc, was just to cover how corporate friendly he actually is.
All it take is one man in the right place to take this country down and that one man is obamass. He is making way for his brother to come in and take over this country and then we will all be under the Muslim law. There will be blood in the street befor this is over with, why else does he want to take our guns? so we can`t fight back! Tell me ONE THING he has done good for this country? If it come out of his mouth it`s a LIE, just like his father he hate this country and is doing a damn good job of distorting it with all the help he is getting from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and don`t forget the UNION and AARP. And one day if he get his way they will all be sorry, because he will turn on them when he don`t need them anymore.
You’re a little bit cuckoo, aren’t you, Virgil? I mean, you’re mixing up unhappiness with Obama policies with a Muslim plot to impose sharia law and that’s crazy — unless you watch Glenn Beck, which I assume you do. You need to turn off the TV.