General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt wakes up?

[blue97keet]

GE CEO Jeff Immelt wakes up?

http://www.businessword.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/2530/

"I have also learned something about my country. I run a global company, but I am a citizen of the U.S. I believe that a popular, thirty-year notion that the U.S. can evolve from being a technology and manufacturing leader to a service leader is just wrong. In the end, this philosophy transformed the financial services industry from one that supported commerce to a complex trading market that operated outside the economy. Real engineering was traded for financial engineering. In the end, our businesses, our government, and many local leaders lost sight of what makes a nation great: a passion for innovation."

"To this end, we need an educational system that inspires hard work, discipline, and creative thinking. The ability to innovate must be valued again. We must discover new technologies and develop a productive manufacturing base. Our trade deficit is a sign of real weakness and we must reduce our debt to the world. GE will always invest to win globally, but this should include a preeminent position in a strong U.S."

[Locrian]

1. uhh, yeah right.

GE CEO Jeff Immelt wakes up? = when pigs fly out of my ass.

[notadmblnd]

2. yeah, well.. let me know when he actually puts his money where his mouth is

[lapfog_1]

3. The words are right...

when will he start closing overseas manufacturing plants and opening US based plants?

[amandabeech]

10. When China implodes into a Second Cultural Revolution,

and the Hindus and the Moslems really go at each other's throats in India.

I'd like to believe that some higher ups are waking up, but I'll believe it when I see it.

[blue97keet]

11. When offshore manufacturing meets the same fate as financial services

- nuclear toast.

[NewJeffCT]

4. GE is well positioned in a lot of green/infrastructure type industries

one of their biggest segments is GE Infrastructure. They would stand to gain big with big government investments in infrastructure and green technology.

Immelt saying that, though, is a change from Jack Welch before him, as Welch couldn't wait to send jobs overseas to Mexico, China & India.

[terisan]

5. 15 Million Dollar Man backs whomemer is is power or about to be in power.

GE made its money on usury and favorable legislation, is on the dole with government guarantees, and basically does well in corporatist economic systems.

[acmavm]

6. And what did Rod Serling have to say about all this?

I'm sure he gave a great narration from the great beyond on this Twilight Zone speech.

Too bad he probably doesn't mean it. (Please let me be wrong.)

[antigop]

7. um, let's stop offshoring engineering and programming jobs n/t

[OhioChick]

13. Agreed. n/t

[damntexdem]

8. How shocking!

Is he generally electrified in this way?

They outsource for years and then cry crocodile tears about the loss of manufacturing.

[DKRC]

9. Waking up to the fact that offshoring all of our jobs has killed the American cashcow?

If everyone is laid off, bankrupt, homeless ~ how the hell do these corporations think we're going to keep buying their products? Exhortations to SHOP! won't work when we don't have any money.
:eyes:

[Phred42]

12. .... I have this bridge.........

[bemildred]

14. You can't run an economy like it was a casino.

The UK tried the "service economy" stuff in the post-WWI era, and it blew chunks for them, and it will blow chunks for us if we don't make up our minds to make stuff and be at least somewhat self-sufficient.