Posted on 01/22/2011 6:10:14 AM PST by Kaslin
Can GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt talk President Obama into a major corporate tax cut? Immelt has been appointed to the new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which replaces the disbanded Paul Volcker Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Immelt was a member of that original board. Now he has a more elevated position in the Obama 2.0, allegedly pro-business, move-to-the-center Clintonesque White House.
Regarding the new President Obama, I am still trust but verify. But yes, of course, Jeff Immelt is a businessman through and through. He is a trustee of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation board, while GE is a big sponsor of the Reagan Centennial Celebration. (Recall that the Gipper worked for GE as a spokesman and television host from 1954 through 1962.) Hes also a registered Republican who contributed to both Hillary Clinton and John McCain during the 2008 campaign. And last year, he harshly criticized Obama at a dinner in Italy, where he basically said: Obama doesnt like business, and business doesnt like Obama.
But what goes around comes around. Many business people wanted senior executives in the White House, and now they have two -- with GEs Immelt joining William Daley, the former banker and new chief of staff.
GE had a rough time of it during the Great Recession. But in recent quarters it has turned quite profitable; its stock just hit a 52-week high. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Immelt set out his agenda for continued economic recovery. He would focus on manufacturing and exports, free trade, and innovation.
So wheres the corporate tax cut? Well, Immelt offered one short line about a sound and competitive tax system . . . No, not exactly a ringing call to action. But I believe he will, in fact, push for corporate tax reform.
Theres nothing more important than full-fledged corporate tax-rate reduction in order to maximize U.S. economic growth. At 35 percent, our highest-in-the-world corporate tax should be knocked all the way down towards 20 percent.
And businesses taxes should be made territorial, not worldwide, in order to stop the double-taxation of foreign earnings. Business revenues held overseas, now reported to be about $1 trillion, should be repatriated to the U.S. with a 5 percent tax holiday.
Businesses also should enjoy permanent 100 percent cash expensing for new investment in plant, equipment, and research. Studies have shown that this combination by far offers the biggest bang for the buck in terms of additional GDP and job-creation.
And yes, broaden the base with loophole closers. A lower tax rate and full expensing is much more important than all those K Street credits and deductions.
At the Republican House retreat in Baltimore a week ago, I argued for a two-track, pro-growth fiscal plan. Reform the business tax (Rep. Dave Camp) and bring federal spending as a share of the economy down to 20 percent from the current 25 percent (Rep. Paul Ryan). My friend and mentor Arthur Laffer, my co-panelist at the retreat, argued strongly that reduced spending is itself a tax cut. On this point, Laffer, Alan Reynolds, and Dick Armey have all recently cited the late Nobelist Milton Friedman, who held that government spending is the broadest tax on the overall economy.
And lets add a rollback of Obamacare and a return to a reliable King Dollar (referenced to gold) as additional pro-growth measures. Finally, lets enact drill, drill, drill. More energy across the board -- all of the above -- is another great job creator.
But my former boss Jeff Immelt (GE is selling NBC Universal to Comcast) can play a key role in a hugely important corporate tax cut. This will incentivize firms to stay at home instead of going overseas. It will be a huge job-creator, reducing unemployment and playing an important part in deficit reduction. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a 1 percentage point increase in GDP above the meager 2.5 percent baseline would lower the ten-year budget gap by nearly $3 trillion.
Growth solves a lot of problems. Can Mr. Immelt get the job done?
GE is heavily invested in Global Warming and solar. Bringing in a new captain for the Titanic.
Pray for America
Thank you!
NY Fed Board.
And here’s MY letter to Jeff and as many Board members for whom I could find email addys.
Below please find a copy of my April email to Jeffery Immelt. I sent it to you in hopes that you also share my concerns for GE. There is a significant consumer, investor backlash building and it could impact GE for many years to come.
Regards,
Dick Bachert
TO: Jeffrey Immelt
April 21, 2009
My Dear Mr. Immelt,
My late father worked for GE for many years in the Apparatus Service Division out of Cleveland, Ohio (specialized in marine work) and was always proud of his relationship with a grand old American enterprise. You were growing up down there in Cinci at the time and, one could assume, were inculcated with those same traditional values my father developed growing up in Coshocton, Ohio.
My wife and I are long-time GE shareholders and have remained thus through the current tumultuous period.
But we have become concerned, indeed ALARMED, at recent events at GE, the most telling of which is your evident embrace of a man who is clearly hell bent on dragging America into some sort of fascist or socialist nightmare. And make no mistake — that is PRECISELY where he is headed.
My wife and I have both signed the “We Surround You” letter at the Free Enterpriser web site so I shant belabor the points already made therein.
I served in the USAF for four years between ‘62 and ‘66. One day in May of ‘62, I raised my hand and swore an oath to God to “...defend the Constitution of the United States.”
To the best of my knowledge, that oath had no expiration date and is still active.
I would respectfully ask you to reconsider your recent activities vis-a-vis what many out here in fly-over country consider to be aiding and abetting an enemy of that Constitution and the IDEA of America envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
If you do nothing else, pray about that and think about what your continued course of action portends for your kids, your grandkids and, more importantly to me, mine.
Dick Bachert
Since I sent this email to which I received a polite and completely useless computer generated reply things have only gotten worse as Obama has hoisted the flag of state/corporate socialism even higher up the pole. And the public outrage now bubbling over the top will, I fear, cost GE far more than Jeffery Immelt can know. I pray that America THE IDEA will somehow survive Obama. And I pray that an old and venerable firm like GE will somehow survive what I consider to be potentially death-dealing decisions by Jeff Immelt to throw in with the worst occupant of the White House in my 70 years.
Short video on what’s REALLY at stake here:
NOWHERE TO HIDE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqw7kXG0kxU
So do I, and not only for political reasons. I bought a refrigerator from GE about 10 years ago. The ice maker quit after a few days. I never did get them to honor the warranty. It went something like this. I would call the warranty 800 number and get put on hold for two hours, when I finally got someone on the line they would tell me I needed to be transferred to someone else, again I would put on hold for two hours, eventually I would get frustrated and hang up. I would try agains later. The same scenario would happen again. I finally just gave up. It should have been simple.
Mine it political, and it is because GE does business with Iran, who has killed many of our troops.
So's Donald Trump (supposedly). I'm afraid that doesn't mean much anymore.
does anyone else see conflicts of interest with this relationship and the big deals GE has been led to by the government of late - with China, green energy, etc?
And for anyone interested....
It's a long list.
Thanks.
Be safe in these difficult times.
Agree...
” And then Bill Daley gets picked to be on Boeing’s Board of Directors. Watta coincidence. “
Yeah ;-)
Imelt = Fascism!
There is something that I don’t understand about Obama and GE. I thought that GE got $18 billion from the stimulus for green energy initiatives, and used a good sized chunk of that to build light bulb factories in China. Did GE also get TARP money, or was it TARP money, not stimulus money?
I’m confused. Thanks.
They got TARP money. And they got Porkulus money.
Very profitable relationship with the administration, wouldn't you say?
Thanks, do you know how much?
At least $18 billion from TARP.
This page lists at least ten items that GE got Porkulus grants for.
There were apparently many more (total unknown -- and, perhaps, unknowable).
The link is working. :(
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