GE's Jeff Immelt To Replace Paul Volcker

In case there was any question remaining in your mind as to what is really happening.

It should be noted that GE was the number one corporation in lobbying, spending $40 million on the purchase of political influence last year.

Obama is looking more like Herbert Hoover every day, but without the Great Engineer's accomplishments.

As someone said, it could have been worse, Obama could have chosen Lloyd Blankfein as his advisor. But that would have been a demotion for Lloyd, and a probable lessening of his existing impact on public policy.

NYT

Volcker Out, Immelt In on Economic Board
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and ANAHAD O’CONNOR
January 21, 2011

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — President Obama will name Jeffrey R. Immelt, the chief executive officer and chairman of General Electric, on Friday to run his outside panel of economic advisers, replacing Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, who is stepping down, the White House said.

Mr. Immelt will chair a new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that Mr. Obama intends to create by executive order. In a statement issued shortly after midnight, Mr. Obama said he wants the council to “focus its work on finding new ways to encourage the private sector to hire and invest in American competitiveness.”

The council will be a reconfigured version of the board Mr. Volcker chaired, the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. That body, created by Mr. Obama when he took office in the thick of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, is set to expire on Feb. 6...

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group."

Franklin D. Roosevelt

GE Loses Its 'AAA' Credit Rating as S&P Downgrades

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the deleveraging!
O Jeff, thou wast downgraded from thine high places. 2 Samuel 1:25

GE, Finance Arm Lose Coveted AAA Long-Term Rating From SP

General Electric Co. (GE) and its finance arm have lost their coveted AAA long-term credit rating from Standard Poor's Ratings Service, which said its view of GE Capital on a stand-alone basis had fallen.

GE had been one of only six non-financial companies with the AAA rating from the agency. The long-term rating of GE and GE Capital was cut one notch each to AA+. Analysts and observers have wondered for months about the company's ability to keep the top rating amid woes at GE Capital, which have driven the company's stock tumbling in recent months.

The stock, down 75% the past year and 48% in 2009 alone, was down 3 cents at $8.46 in recent trading, after rising as much as 4% in the opening minutes of Thursday's session.

GE Slashes Dividend For the First Time Since 1938 to Preserve Capital

GE cut their dividend by a whoppoing 68% to preserve capital in 'uncertain markets.' The company also said that there are no plans to raise additional capital and dilute common shareholders, with the same confidence which they had in January when Jeff Immelt said that they would not cut the dividend in 2009.

Here is a February 5, 2009 video interview with Jeff Immelt:

Immelt Says Important for GE Not to Cut Divident in 2009

The Wall Street Journal interviewer provides an example of an interview from the prior March in which Jeff Immelt was optimistic about earnings and then shortly thereafter "BAM! A big miss. Does this mean you and your guys don't know what's going on?"

Well, BAM again.

Reuters
GE cuts quarterly dividend to protect liquidity
Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:50pm EST

BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co plans to cut its quarterly dividend to 10 cents a share starting in the second half of 2009, a move that it said would provide it with more "flexibility" in the face of a recession.

The U.S. conglomerate said it had no plans to raise additional equity, and that reducing its dividend from 31 cents a share would save it about $9 billion a year.

The news had been widely expected on Wall Street even prior to GE's statement earlier this month that its board would re-evaluate the payout....

"We have determined that reducing the dividend ... is a prudent measure to further enhance our balance sheet and provide us with additional flexibility," said Chief Executive Jeff Immelt in a statement.

As recently as January, Immelt had defended the dividend. In November, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said it planned to pay the 31-cent quarterly dividend through 2009.

Still, troubles at its GE Capital finance unit had led some investors to wonder whether keeping the dividend was a good idea....

GE, GECC's Rating May Be Cut by Moody's

* Moody's places GE's long-term credit ratings on review

* GE sees no 'major operational impacts' if downgraded

* Shares fall 5 pct after the closing bell


Reuters
Moody's says could cut GE's triple-A credit rating
By Scott Malone
Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:45pm EST

BOSTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday it was reviewing General Electric Co's (GE.N) triple-A credit ratings, which could lead to a downgrade, and its shares fell as much as 5 percent in extended trade.

The move raises the risk that GE, which has a hefty finance business, could lose the long-term triple-A rating that has been a cornerstone of its GE Capital finance business.

On Monday, Standard & Poor's -- which has already warned that it could cut GE's triple-A rating -- said its view would not be affected by disappointing fourth quarter results, but warned it believed it would be "increasingly challenging" for GE Capital to meet its earnings targets.

The U.S. conglomerate has been working to reduce its reliance on GE Capital, as the credit crunch has hurt that unit over the past year and weighed on its earnings.

"Moody's is concerned that deepening global economic weakness could further compromise (GE Capital's) asset quality, potentially jeopardizing its ability to meet earnings objectives while also maintaining high earnings quality," the rating agency said. [ID:nWNA4886]

Many on Wall Street believe the world's largest maker of jet engines and electric turbines may have to sacrifice either the triple-A rating or its $1.24 per share annual dividend as it copes with falling profit in a brutal economy....

GE Receives FDIC Backing for its Debt

Do you get the feeling that the financial sector is in a hostile takeover of the country?

AP
FDIC to back GE Capital debt
November 12, 3:45 pm ET

FDIC to guarantee up to $139 billion of debt issued by GE's financing arm

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- General Electric Co. says its massive finance business, hard hit by turmoil in the credit markets, is now eligible for federal backing of up to $139 billion of its debt.

GE says the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approved GE Capital Corp. to participate in the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.

Russell Wilkerson, a spokesman for Fairfield, Conn.-based GE, says up to $139 billion in short- and long-term debt is guaranteed. He says GE will now be on the same footing as competitors who also have federal backing.

Nearly half of GE's earnings are from its finance business, with the remainder from its industrial business that makes everything from locomotives to water treatment plants, and from NBC-Universal.