Free Republic

You just got hired by GE. Why isn't anybody happy for you? That's the perplexing question facing a college graduate in BBDO New York's amusing new campaign, breaking Tuesday on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The problem, it turns out, is that the graduate, Owen, has been hired as a programmer—but everyone from his classmates to his parents thinks GE is still only a manufacturing company. This makes for some comically awkward ads, in which Owen tries to explain why people should be impressed by his new job—not giving him condolences or baffled stares.

Back in June we covered the story of General Electric throwing a fit of pique over the demise of the Export-Import Bank and threatening to ship their jobs overseas if the cookie jar wasn’t opened back up. The amount of sympathy which GE received from our readers and the conservative community in general was… muted to say the least. It seemed like a cheap, tawdry move which was designed to try to hold American workers hostage in exchange for getting what they wanted from the feds.That story took a rather odd twist this week when some new information came...

Blaming Congress' impasse on the Export-Import Bank, General Electric (NYSE:GE) said that it will move 500 U.S. jobs, some of which are deep in the heart of Texas, overseas to Europe and China in order to avoid losing business to foreign companies. The Lone Star State is one of the losers in GE's announcement Tuesday, as the U.S.-based jobs will be shipped from Texas, South Carolina, New York and Maine to France, Hungary and China. Lawmakers from Texas also have been vocal critics of the Ex-Im Bank.

General Electric is apparently not going to move to Texas because Congressman Jeb Hensarling doesn’t support the Export-Import Bank. Bloomberg cited the ever nebulous “people familiar with the matter” in their report on Friday. GE told Dallas business leaders in recent days it would look elsewhere for alternatives to its Connecticut home, said the people, who asked not to be identified because details aren’t public. They said GE cited some Texas lawmakers’ opposition to the U.S. Export-Import Bank, an important source of financing for some overseas sales. You can probably include Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn (allegedly), plus Congressmen...

Neither Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings nor officials from General Electric would confirm on Friday reports that General Electric Co. had decided against relocating its global headquarters to the city because of Texas politicians’ opposition to the Export-Import Bank. Republicans Rep. Jeb Hensarling and Sen. Ted Cruz have each been outspoken in their opposition to the Ex-Im Bank, a federal agency that offers loans, loan guarantees and credit insurance to help U.S. firms sell their products overseas. Hensarling’s opposition to the bank has grown from a small movement two years ago to a full-scale rebellion, dismaying the bank’s supporters among major...

When House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy headlined a fundraiser in early June the room was packed with defense industry lobbyists, but reps from one megacontractor were missing — Boeing. Not only was Boeing absent at that fundraiser, the contractor has cut off all political contributions to the No. 2 House Republican over his support for killing the Export-Import Bank, which facilitates billions of dollars in low-interest loans to U.S. exporters like Boeing. General Electric, also a major supporter of renewing Ex-Im and a benefactor of the agency, has followed suit and has not contributed to the California Republican this year....

While conservatives have been nearly unanimous in calling for the end of the Washington slush fund known as the Export-Import Bank, Congress will clearly remain under a lot of pressure from powerful business interests. The authorization for the bank is due to expire at the end of this month, so no real action is required to make it go away beyond simply doing nothing. Given how that’s what Congress is usually best at, this sounds pretty easy, but one major employer has begun leveling threats as to what will happen if they don’t get to keep the scheme in place....

General Electric is exploring a move from its Connecticut headquarters after it objected to tax aspects of the state's recently passed budget. The Connecticut legislature on Wednesday approved a $40 billion budget that would increase some business taxes. In a Thursday email provided by GE, CEO Jeff Immelt told Connecticut-based employees that he has put together a team to evaluate a move to another state with "a more pro-business environment." Immelt claims the company's state taxes have increased five times since 2011 and the new budget would impose "significant and retroactive tax increases for businesses." GE—which employs more than 5,700...

HARTFORD – As Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday he was open to tweaking the tax side of a budget that has alarmed several large Connecticut employers, General Electric told employees it has assembled an exploratory team to look for "another state with a more pro-business environment."

The US-India defence relationship needs an engine to drive it, say leaders on both sides. But there are different perceptions on what that engine might be. Americans believe the engine should be the "Defence Trade and Technology Initiative" (DTTI), a high-level committee of officials from both sides that moots projects for working together, and removes bureaucratic roadblocks. In January, when President Barack Obama met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, they "emphasised the ongoing importance of the (DTTI) in developing new areas of technology cooperation", according to a joint statement issued at that time. Indian officials are focused on...

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is said to be among 12 companies which have signed non-disclosure agreements over the prospective acquisition of GE Capital Sponsor Finance. According to peHub, which first reported the news, other companies that have signed NDAs include Apollo Management and Ares Management. Other potential buyers are said to be Blackstone Group LP, Wells Fargo & Co, and American fleet management company Element. GE Capital Sponsor Finance is expected to sell within 90 days. In April, General Electric announced it was selling its global fleet management and leasing businesses because it was becoming increasingly difficult to generate a...

If you needed any more proof that you can make absolutely anything with a 3D printer, check out this video from GE. To showcase the versatility of 3D printing as a manufacturing process, a team of engineers at GE recently built a fully-functional, backpack-sized jet engine made entirely from 3D-printed parts. And it’s not just for show either — the team actually fired the engine up and took it up to 33,000 RPMs to demonstrate how robust the parts are. Now, obviously, since this is a jet turbine we’re talking about here, it wasn’t printed in ABS with the latest...

Try as I might to get away from the “Hillary, Hillary, Hillary” meme, I just can’t stay ahead of the baggage backup. Isn’t anyone going to claim this baggage?At the rate it’s flying down the chute these days even some of the MSM have been forced to acknowledge a few of the unsavory facts still swirling around our American Power Rangers. Whoa! That’s quite a bubba nose one of our Power Rangers is sportingStarting with formerly reliable (and supportive) Ron Fournier in the National Journal who writes an article titled “The Questions Hillary Clinton Doesn't Want Answered About the Clinton Foundation”...

Cities on both U.S. coasts will soon begin piloting new GE technology designed to help them become more intelligent and efficient. San Diego, California, and Jacksonville, Florida, will both be trialing a new GE LED solution, which uses LED street lighting installations to connect, collect and analyze data being generated, harnessing the power of the Industrial Internet to help their city run better while providing new services and conveniences for residents and visitors. From high street lighting costs to traffic congestion, parking allotments and emergency response, cities across the world juggle a variety of challenges. GE is developing solutions that...

General Electric announced a radical plan to slim itself this morning. It will sell the majority of its GE Capital assets, which represents $500 billion in assets. It will sell nearly all of its real estate portfolio to investors including Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo & Co for $26.5 billion. The company also said its board had authorized a share repurchase program of up to $50 billion. "This is a major step in our strategy to focus GE around its competitive advantages,” GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said in a press release.

I'm a little under the weather (which is not as chronic as being under the climate), but I wanted to add something to what I said the other day about thug operator Raúl Grijalva, Democrat Representative from Arizona and Ranking Member of the House UnEnvironmental Activities Committee. It is not a small thing when even a jumped-up twerp hack announces that the national legislature of the world's superpower is targeting seven private citizens for disagreeing with him. In this case Commissar Grijalva is clamping the electrodes to various climate scientists - Robert Balling, John Christy, Judith Curry, Steven Hayward, David...

Is it time yet to put the face of Obama's Jobs Adviser, Jeffrey Immelt, on milk cartons? Have you noticed that he is MIA? Could it be that Obama's own jobs adviser is out of sight because he really supports Mitt Romney?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is looking for vendors to run its "National Data Warehouse," a database for "capturing, aggregating, and analyzing information" related to beneficiary and customer experiences with Medicare and the federal Obamacare marketplaces. Although the database primarily consists of quality control metrics related to individuals' interactions with customer service, potential contractors are to "[d]emonstrate ... experience with scalability and security in protecting data and information with customer, person-sensitive information including Personal Health Information and Personally Identifiable information (personal health records, etc.)." Vendors are also instructed that one of the requirements of a possible future...

Electrolux AB has agreed to pay $3.3 billion to acquire General Electric Co.'s appliances business, a move that would put the Swedish group head-to-head with Whirlpool Corp. at the top of the U.S. market for white goods. The deal is the largest ever by Electrolux and comes amid consolidation among makers of stoves, dishwashers and washing machines. Whirlpool agreed to pay more than $1 billion this summer to acquire a majority stake in Italian company Indesit Co. , a purchase that would roughly double Whirlpool's business in Europe. Electrolux shares surged 5.1% in Stockholm on news of the deal.

General Electric Korea on Thursday expressed its willingness to join the South Korean government’s plan to develop a double-engine platform for its next generation of fighter jets. The U.S.-based conglomerate said it could do more good when collaborating with Korean companies in the KFX project, while promoting its rich history and competitiveness in the global aerospace industry. “GE has played a significant role in the development of Korea’s aerospace defense industry by providing jet engines, avionics and integrated systems,” said Khang Sung-wook, president and CEO of GE Korea, at a press conference in Seoul. “Through the KFX program, GE seeks...