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disneydream06This article is partly about Reagan, aka 100 Year Old Ronnie, the Republican's god.
But I am more interested in what it says about a company like GE.
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Reagan led America into the death of Main Street while he championed its glory.
He did that by acting the role of the proud defender of "American exceptionalism" and "moral values," while he implemented a policy and mindset that led to the economic decline of "middle America" – and championed death squads and brutal dictatorships abroad.
But his most detrimental accomplishment was ushering in the age of governance by global corporations – who have an allegiance only to profits and manufacturing at the lowest cost (overseas), not to jobs or decent pay in the United States.
Yesterday, BuzzFlash wrote about how this destructive change in America's political prism was exemplified by GE's launching of Reagan's political career, and how GE is still benefiting in the Obama White House.
Journalist David Lindorff trenchantly analyzes how GE's investment in Reagan is still paying off - in the Obama administration - with the cynical appointment of GE honcho Jeffrey Immelt as "jobs czar":
Between 2005 and 2009, according to GE’s own 10-K financial reports, the company shed jobs in the US so fast, and added them abroad so fast, that the US employee share of GE’s total workforce dropped from 51 percent to 44 percent, a process of job destruction that has continued apace since then. In 2009 and 2010, according to information compiled by the United Electrical Workers (UE), GE closed down 29 manufacturing plants in North America, 28 of them in the US and one in Canada.... Meanwhile, Immelt recently told Forbes magazine about his company’s plans for expanding jobs ... in India.
It gets worse. GE is a master at using offshore tax schemes to avoid paying its fair share to the help cover for the costs of running America. As Lindorff documents,
The company also likes the idea of lower corporate taxes (for the years 2007 to 2009, according to Citizens for Tax Justice's Bob McIntyre, Immelt's GE managed to finagle a tax rate of -14.1%, which is to say the government gave the company an extra 14.1% over and above its profits!), and of course all kinds of tax incentives aimed at increasing hiring, though these measures, while helping corporate bottom lines, have demonstrably failed to lead to significant job creation. GE also opposes measures that would punish companies for outsourcing production, or that would make it harder for it to bring in high-skilled workers from abroad to replace educated but higher-paid American workers.
In short, it is now politically acceptable for a Democratic president to appoint a chief adviser on job creation whose major skill set is closing American plants, sending jobs overseas, and not only avoiding his company (GE) from paying taxes, but actually ending up with a US government subsidy.
On the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birthday, this is his legacy. The myth of "morning in America" will endure in Republican fundraisers and fawning corporate media coverage, but the facts speak for themselves – and they are a damning indictment.
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
But I am more interested in what it says about a company like GE.
*************
Reagan led America into the death of Main Street while he championed its glory.
He did that by acting the role of the proud defender of "American exceptionalism" and "moral values," while he implemented a policy and mindset that led to the economic decline of "middle America" – and championed death squads and brutal dictatorships abroad.
But his most detrimental accomplishment was ushering in the age of governance by global corporations – who have an allegiance only to profits and manufacturing at the lowest cost (overseas), not to jobs or decent pay in the United States.
Yesterday, BuzzFlash wrote about how this destructive change in America's political prism was exemplified by GE's launching of Reagan's political career, and how GE is still benefiting in the Obama White House.
Journalist David Lindorff trenchantly analyzes how GE's investment in Reagan is still paying off - in the Obama administration - with the cynical appointment of GE honcho Jeffrey Immelt as "jobs czar":
Between 2005 and 2009, according to GE’s own 10-K financial reports, the company shed jobs in the US so fast, and added them abroad so fast, that the US employee share of GE’s total workforce dropped from 51 percent to 44 percent, a process of job destruction that has continued apace since then. In 2009 and 2010, according to information compiled by the United Electrical Workers (UE), GE closed down 29 manufacturing plants in North America, 28 of them in the US and one in Canada.... Meanwhile, Immelt recently told Forbes magazine about his company’s plans for expanding jobs ... in India.
It gets worse. GE is a master at using offshore tax schemes to avoid paying its fair share to the help cover for the costs of running America. As Lindorff documents,
The company also likes the idea of lower corporate taxes (for the years 2007 to 2009, according to Citizens for Tax Justice's Bob McIntyre, Immelt's GE managed to finagle a tax rate of -14.1%, which is to say the government gave the company an extra 14.1% over and above its profits!), and of course all kinds of tax incentives aimed at increasing hiring, though these measures, while helping corporate bottom lines, have demonstrably failed to lead to significant job creation. GE also opposes measures that would punish companies for outsourcing production, or that would make it harder for it to bring in high-skilled workers from abroad to replace educated but higher-paid American workers.
In short, it is now politically acceptable for a Democratic president to appoint a chief adviser on job creation whose major skill set is closing American plants, sending jobs overseas, and not only avoiding his company (GE) from paying taxes, but actually ending up with a US government subsidy.
On the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birthday, this is his legacy. The myth of "morning in America" will endure in Republican fundraisers and fawning corporate media coverage, but the facts speak for themselves – and they are a damning indictment.
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
