GE's Profit Jumps 77%

Wall Street Journal ^ | APRIL 21, 2011, 8:36 A.M. ET | BOB SECHLER

[pillut48]

General Electric Co. reported a 77% increase in first-quarter earnings, lifted by marked improvement at its GE Capital financing arm and gains at most of its industrial units.

The company also boosted its quarterly dividend by a penny to 15 cents. The move marks GE's third dividend increase in the past year, although the payout remains well short of GE's 31-cent dividend before the financial crisis and economic downturn.

Many companies have been boosting dividends, looking to give cash back to shareholders as the need to hoard it wanes amid an improved economy.

[pillut48]

Wait...WHAT?!?!?!

[paulycy]

[Mr. K]

They are reporting all these increases as great news of the Obama Recovert TM

But when your income is a disaster 2 years ago and you only made $1, and then last year you made $2, it is easy to say you had a 100% jump in profits~!!!!

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.

[AU72]

GE’s investment in the Obama Administration has paid off handsomely.

[rarestia]

I firmly believe GE is the evil empire. We work with them regularly on major IT projects (I work in health care), and they are the most disorganized bunch of lackeys. Yet, they get paid major money to do the work they do with multi-million dollar hardware.

[2001convSVT]

Crony Capitalism at it finest! In the old days it was known by another term.

[Dixie Yooper]

General Electric Co. reported a 77% increase in first-quarter earnings, lifted by marked improvement at its GE Capital financing arm and gains at most of its industrial units.

Do you need more proof that reducing taxes on BIG Business can improve their bottom line? If Obama has reduced GE's taxes to -23% instead of 0%, they might have posted a 100% increase in first quarter earnings?

[pillut48]

Wait, there’s a silver lining here!!

TAX THE HELL OUT OF GE TO PAY DOWN THE DEFICIT!! *POOF!* BALANCED BUDGET!

Wow, I guess that Obama *is* an economics expert after all!!

/sarc

[NavyCanDo]

Good thing GE doesn't pump oil.
If they did instead of the press saying “great job”, you would have them making horrible villains out of the top executives, and the Left wanting them put in chains and dragged to jail.

[hattend]

If you don’t pay taxes, you “make” more profit.

[pillut48]

BINGO TO THE NTH DEGREE!!!!!!

[dforest]

Obama’s butt boy whores always profit. Facists, all of them.

[C210N]

I look forward to them abiding by the Disclose Executive Order.

[2001convSVT]

Good idea, but with GE's connections you would likely have more success herding cats.

[reed13]

I’m not a GE lover, but earnings and profits are two different things

[MrB]

I’m betting quite a bit of that profit goes right back into the 0bama 2012 coffers.

By the way, it’s “fascists”. A “facist” would be someone who discriminates based on faces.

But, they are fascists indeed. Government control of corporations with a nice little bedfellows relationship.

[Theophilus]

Government Electric. We bring good things to life...
...if we don't abort them first or poison them with mercury from our chicken turd light bulbs.
...and then we mortgage the future of the survivors to improve our stock price today.
soylentgreen is taxpayers.

[RayChuang88]

And GE is poised to be a HUGE winner in the alternate energy sweepstakes--GE Energy is a huge player in the wind turbine market and are aggressively going into solar power, too.

[Carley]

So easy when you don’t pay any taxes.

[cdcdawg]

Mr. Tanner, Wesley Mouch, Orren Boyle and James Taggart are doing their thing, aren’t they? Atlas Shrugged being played out before our very eyes.