GE Propaganda

Over the weekend I saw a number of different TV commercials from GE touting their great company and all of the wonderful things that they do. None of these commercials had anything to do with promoting consumer products. This is simply corporate propaganda, feel-good stuff to make the average viewer say, “Wow, that there is a pretty darn good company, ain’t it Clem?” While I cannot be totally sure about their motives, this certainly has the feel of damage control, i.e., a reaction to the public backlash, by the small percentage of the population who is actually paying attention, over their not paying any taxes in 2010 and receiving money back from the government.

Hey GE, where is the TV commercial where you explain how and why you moved your entire radiology division to China? Yeah, you will say because China is an “emerging market” which it probably is. Did you have to move all of the jobs over there for that, or because you can get cheap labor and continue to dodge paying taxes to Uncle Sam?

The ironic part about these TV spots is that they will be classified as a business expense against earnings, thereby contributing to GE’s continued tax dodge. Only in America.