King of crony capitalism GE Filed 57,000-Page Tax Return, Paid No Taxes on $14 Billion in Profits, gets govt. loans & grants

November 18, 2011 09:48


One of the highest spenders on lobbying is General Electric. Along with its subsidiaries, General Electric spent more than $9.5 million on federal lobbying between April and June 2010.

By Michael Whipple, Editor usACTIONnews.com

Paul Ryan  pitched corporate tax reform at a recent townhall meeting pointing out corprate tax dodges. “GE was able to utilize all of these various loopholes, all of these various deductions–it’s legal,” Ryan said.

One of the highest spenders on lobbying is General Electric. Along with its subsidiaries, General Electric spent more than $9.5 million on federal lobbying between April and June 2010. [ opensecrets.org]

In the first six months of 2010 General Electric and its subsidiaries spent more than $17.6 million on lobbying — an increase of 50 percent more than what it spent during the first six months of 2009. [ opensecrets.org]

General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffery Immelt was involved in the creation of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a lobbying organization comprised of businessmen that counts getting Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade  passed in the House as one of its accomplishments.’

GE’s lobbying efforts also resulted in banning the incandescent light bulb.  Next year Americans will not be able to buy standard bulb cheap bulbs but will only be able to buy the more dangerous compact florescent CFL bulbs made in China. GE closed its light bulb factories in the US in Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia and will produce the more profitable CFL’s in China. The Virginia plant was the last major incandescent manufacturing facility in the United States.

Amanda Carey at The Daily Caller reported the sleazy ties between GE and the White house:

‘Now consider John and Tony Podesta. The brothers, key figures within Democratic circles (John organized Obama’s transition in 2009 and is president of Center for American Progress; Tony is a frequent White House visitor), are both champions of environmental causes.’

‘In the first year of the Obama administration, the Podesta Group brought in more than $25 million (up $10 million from the year before) from various clients, including Duke Power, Carbonfund.org. and GE .’

‘The Podestas also had some help within the White House for a time, in the form of Van Jones, the “green czar” who resigned in September 2009. Before joining the White House, Jones served on the board of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of businesses and environmental leaders working to “catalyze a clean energy revolution” and reduce carbon emissions.’

‘“Incredible,” said Chris Horner, author of the newly released “Power Grab: How Obama’s Green Policies Will Steal Your Freedom and Bankrupt America,” when asked by The Daily Caller about Zoi’s conflict of interest. He pointed out that Zoi’s appointment at DOE represents something even more disturbing: the move of the CEO of Gore’s “radical” advocacy group to a senior Obama administration cabinet position.’

‘“It’s all about cash and how much the consumer is going to have to pay to subsidize renewable energy sources,” said Bryce. “Because when it comes down to it, where is the public demand for these programs and mandates that will increase the cost of electricity?”’

Robert Bryce at National Review Online wrote about GE’s participation in a wind project in which they shared in over a billion dollars in “green” loan guarantees and will receive almost half a billion in cash grants:

Not only is the Energy Department giving GE and its partners a $1.06 billion loan guarantee, but as soon as GE’s 338 turbines start turning at Shepherds Flat, the Treasury Department will send the project developers a cash grant of $490 million.

Why is the Obama administration providing subsidies to GE, which paid little or no federal income taxes last year even though it generated some $5.1 billion in profits from its U.S. operations?

The majority of the funding for the $1.9 billion, 845-megawatt Shepherds Flat wind project in Oregon is coming courtesy of federal taxpayers.

How much will those “green energy” jobs cost? Well, if we ignore the value of the federal loan guarantee and only focus on the $490 million cash grant that will be given to GE and its partners when Shepherds Flat gets finished, the cost of those “green energy” jobs will be about $16.3 million each.

The New York Times reports that:

Over the last decade, G.E. has spent tens of millions of dollars to push for changes in tax law, from more generous depreciation schedules on jet engines to “green energy” credits for its wind turbines. But the most lucrative of these measures allows G.E. to operate a vast leasing and lending business abroad with profits that face little foreign taxes and no American taxes as long as the money remains overseas.

No wonder GE owned NBC and MSNBC push Obama and the Democrat agenda in order to steal us bling and leave us in the dark.

Ed Lasky at American Thinker put it this way:

‘General Electric knows how the system works: as the number-one crony capitalist in the nation, it gets taxpayer dollars from Democrats and rewards them with donations from its Political Action Committee and free positive media. Now that is a perpetual energy machine, indeed. But like all faux perpetual energy schemes, it requires outside energy — our dollars.’

By Michael Whipple, Editor usACTIONnews.com

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