GE Moving X-Ray Business to China

GE Moving X-Ray Business to China

articles.boston.com

General Electric Co.’s health care unit, the world’s biggest maker of medical imaging machines, is moving the headquarters of its 115-year-old X-ray business to Beijing.

“A handful’’ of top managers will move to the Chinese capital and there won’t be any job cuts, said Anne LeGrand, general manager of X-ray for GE Healthcare. The headquarters will move from Wisconsin amid a broader plan to invest about $2 billion across China, including opening six “customer innovation’’ and development centers

(visit the link for the full news article)

Here is Immelt, key member of the President's "jobs council" moving a 100 year old business to China.

Also announcing a $2bn investment in China which will create thousands of jobs in China that should have been created in the US if the demand for digital X-Rays was anticipated to grow substantially, regardless of where that growth came from.

Here is a massive company, minting cash, paying no taxes and perhaps the largest member of the military industrial complex that has corrupted US military, transportation and energy policy for several decades.

That they would announce this move at this time, in the middle of the budget talks and massively high unemployment in this country is a direct insult to Obama and the American people.

Obama should walk into the press room today, castigate Immelt and announce that he has been removed from the "jobs council" and will be replaced with someone who actually gives a rat's ass about American jobs.

articles.boston.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by dolphinfan


Looks like the statement that high taxes on corporations will loose jobs is just a bunch of hot air.
They are going to send them over seas regardless.
I say tax them till they bleed!

Originally posted by shtf2012
reply to post by dolphinfan

 

Looks like the statement that high taxes on corporations will loose jobs is just a bunch of hot air.
They are going to send them over seas regardless.
I say tax them till they bleed!

Exactly.

These "job creators" got a multibillion dollar tax refund and are creating jobs in China. How nice. I wonder who picked up the slack for those needed tax revenues?

...“A handful’’ of top managers will move to the Chinese capital and there won’t be any job cuts....

Yeah, but the "new" jobs go to China..... Thanks, GE After their stellar profit-taking year....

(Congress gave corporations person status.... corporate loyalty to the nation is what "we" get for it.)

exzclty how does no one loose thier jobs, if no one wants to move to beijing???im really lost on that one..
maybe NO corporrate jobs will be lost?

Yeah, the jobs won't be 'cut' because they will be filled in China. This is a slap in the face not just to the prez but to Americans as a whole.

JT

reply to post by ziggy1706


It sounds like they are going to be expanding the business, which will allow them not to cut jobs here.

According to the article, it appears only the decision making executives will be moving to China, and they have already hired engineers in China.

Of course this is for now, who is to say in the future they just wont produce all the product in China and lay off the workers in Wisconsin. (I live in the next town over from that GE facility). Perhaps they are just making the small move for now in order look better in the press, and a few months from now silently shut down the Wisconsin facility.

This is why they didnt have to pay taxes last year,
they were allowed to save up for the big move.

reply to post by ziggy1706


This is a tried and true model of corporate America. Clearly jobs will be lost.

GE will take the dough they got from looting the American government and hence the tax payers and build out infrastructure in China. They will move key corporate executives to China to oversee this buildout and make connections with Chinese officials. You can not do business in China without courting favor within the Chinese government.

While the buildout is in progress, funded by unpaid taxes, thousands of Chinese folks will be put to work in the construction activities. During this period, the devices will be made in the US since that is where the current manufacturing infrastructure is in place - hence "no jobs lost".

Once Chinese infrastructure is in place, manufacturing will slowly shift to China. This will continue until critical mass for the manufacturing is reached in China and then the US operation will be shut down.

This is the model that has been used scores of times, both within the US (Boeing moving their corporate headquarters to Chicago from Seattle is an excellent example. No jobs in WA other than a few top executives were to be lost. What has happened since? Thousands of WA jobs have been moved to Kansas and South Carolina).

Its all labor arbitrage with work moving to the place with the lowest labor costs. You can even argue that once the facilities are built in China, GE has a de-facto fiduciary responsibility to move the jobs there out of protecting the interests of the share holders.

This is a bit of a rant but so be it.
My father broke his back as a paratrooper in France.
One of my uncles was crippled in the arm on the beaches of Normandy.
Another uncle served on that hell hole they called Guadalcanal.
Another uncle served during ww2,Korea, and Vietnam.
WHAT WAS THEIR SACRIFICE FOR?
WHAT DO OUR BRAVE TROOPS SACRIFICE FOR TODAY?
If Nazi Germany had won the war things would look like they do today.
When is enough, enough!
When will we say enough is enough.
Give me my marching orders.
I was ready yesterday.
Sorry i had to do that.

In light of GE moving the actual headquarters of its xray business to China, I say we should be allowed to bill them retroactively for all of the taxes that they didn't have to pay last year. I'd argue that moving such a grand operation to Cnina will reduce the tax revenue for our fine country but that issue is moot considering GE's tax status.

Sure, its a free world and a free market in the US but, was there any mention of what was done to keep the HQ here in the US? If there was a debate to that fact, I'm sure it was a rather short one. Immelt has the connections.

Let's see Obama pop this feather in his cap and smile about it. I can't wait to see Jay Carney squirm at the next presser when the questions about this move are asked.

Anyone catch Carney squirm the other day when asked about Obama's plan for the deficit/budget/debt?? Nothing but crickets, stutters and stammers from Carney because Obama does not have a plan.

reply to post by jibeho


Retroactively hitting them with taxes is probably illegal. What is not illegal is freezing and placing under review all current contracts in place with GE, inclusive of those products that use GE components.

Lock up the contracts.

GE is a dirty company, far worse than any pharma or oil company

"Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore. G.E.’s giant tax department, led by a bow-tied former Treasury official named John Samuels, is often referred to as the world’s best tax law firm. Indeed, the company’s slogan “Imagination at Work” fits this department well. The team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress. "

"Transforming the most creative strategies of the tax team into law is another extensive operation. G.E. spends heavily on lobbying: more than $200 million over the last decade, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Records filed with election officials show a significant portion of that money was devoted to tax legislation. G.E. has even turned setbacks into successes with Congressional help. After the World Trade Organization forced the United States to halt $5 billion a year in export subsidies to G.E. and other manufacturers, the company’s lawyers and lobbyists became deeply involved in rewriting a portion of the corporate tax code, according to news reports after the 2002 decision and a Congressional staff member. "

www.nytimes.com...

reply to post by dolphinfan


Obama will NEVER call out or rebuke Immelt; EVER!!

Immelt (and GE and their holdings NBC and MSNBC) are all part of the Democratic heirarchy and propaganda machine. Immelt (and GE) are huge Dem donors...whats a few thousand AMERICAN jobs...just grow that world economy (and vote for Barry in 2012!!!).

reply to post by jibeho


What does Obama have to do with this, specifically?

reply to post by Crapspackle


Obama APPOINTED the non corporate tax paying, GE chief executive (Immelt) to his 'elite' Council on Jobs. As in jobs created in...the United States (where under the Obama economy unemployment is hovering at 10 percent--much higher if you count in those 'no longer looking for work.')? Or jobs in 'the world economy?'

Now, if GE DIDN'T own NBC and MSNBC (and thereby taint the media coverage) wouldnt it be quite the story to report...oh wait...the media (like the Obama/Holder Justice Department and National Labor Relations Board) WENT AFTER Boeing when Boeing openned a Dream Liner factory in (right to work state) South Carolina in stead of 'union' friendly Washington state. I guess Boeing would have had NO Obama administration reprisal if they too had moved to China?

The duplicity of this GE China move, on the dime of the US taxpayers (did GE get any TARP monies?) in a time of profound US unemployment coupled with the media 'coziness' of NBC to all things Obama along with Immelt's 'advising' (ie, having the 'ear' or is it teleprompter) of Obama...well...you don't need 'xray' equipment to see what's going on.

reply to post by jibeho


IMO, Obama's 'plan' is to take care of his friends and donors. The American people don't fit into that 'plan' anyplace...but our tax dollars sure do!

No big surprise! I worked for G.E. for years. My division was closed down years back for the exact same reason. They sent the jobs over seas.

Its just the capitalism nothing more than that. The corporation go where the money is. nothing more than that.

Originally posted by Glinda
reply to post by Crapspackle

 

Obama APPOINTED the non corporate tax paying, GE chief executive (Immelt) to his 'elite' Council on Jobs. As in jobs created in...the United States (where under the Obama economy unemployment is hovering at 10 percent--much higher if you count in those 'no longer looking for work.')? Or jobs in 'the world economy?'

So nothing then? Thank you. Please, continue to paint with a shotgun though.

Now, if GE DIDN'T own NBC and MSNBC (and thereby taint the media coverage) wouldnt it be quite the story to report...oh wait...the media (like the Obama/Holder Justice Department and National Labor Relations Board) WENT AFTER Boeing when Boeing openned a Dream Liner factory in (right to work state) South Carolina in stead of 'union' friendly Washington state. I guess Boeing would have had NO Obama administration reprisal if they too had moved to China?

Yeah, you have no clue what you are saying. I asked what this had to do with Obama. This story was being reported on MSNBC all morning. What your response tells me is that Rush gets you good and angry about a lot of things but you are not really sure why or what they actually have to do with each other.

The duplicity of this GE China move, on the dime of the US taxpayers (did GE get any TARP monies?) in a time of profound US unemployment coupled with the media 'coziness' of NBC to all things Obama along with Immelt's 'advising' (ie, having the 'ear' or is it teleprompter) of Obama...well...you don't need 'xray' equipment to see what's going on.

You did not even come close to answering my question. You just ranted about Obama and NBC about what seems to be a huge lack of reality. Perhaps I will wait for an actual answer to come from someone else. BTW, TARP came from Bush, not Obama. But I know that Bush never existed and everything that ever happened is the fault of Clinton and Obama.