Does Anyone feel like Bailing

[Happy Monkey]

What's amazing about this? A subsidiary of a big company ran some projects using stimulus money? Did they do the things they got the grants for?

I guess the "NBC" mention is to bring up the "GE owns NBC which owns MSNBC which employs Olbermann and Maddow, who are liberal!" angle, but the article says the money went to the "Global Research Center". A generic name, but I'd guess it isn't part of NBC.

You didn't quote the most damning bit in the article, where GE kept outsourcing while accepting stimulus funds. Unfortunately, to get rid of tax incentives for outsourcing, we'd have to get rid of the legislators who most vociferously decry the stimulus.

[classicman]

nah - I was more interested in this...

Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009, according to the company’s 2009 annual report.

They got money to "stimulate" jobs and they shed 18,000 workers.

[Happy Monkey]

That's what my third paragraph was in reference to. I'm all for disincentivising outsourcing, but GE is an insanely huge company, and the outsourced/eliminated jobs are probably unrelated to the "Global Research Center". Heck, there were probably more than a few job losses in the NBC division that CNS News hates so much.

[xoxoxoBruce]

GE Global Research is one of the world's largest and most diversified industrial research organizations, providing innovative technology for all of GE's business. Global Research has been the cornerstone of GE technology for more than 100 years, and is now focused on developing breakthrough innovations in areas such as molecular imaging and diagnostics, energy conversion, nanotechnology, advanced propulsion and security technologies. GE Global Research is headquartered in Niskayuna, NY, and has facilities in Bangalore, India, Shanghai, China, and Munich, Germany.

Employees
Worldwide:more than 2,800 (more than 1,000 PhDs)

They do research on new shit that's commercially viable for GE. They also are brains for hire, to anyone that wants research or development done. This isn't a gift to GE, it's a contract for services with Global Research Division.
Lots of goverment agencies hire them for projects, and apparently used some stimulous money to do so.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

That's what my third paragraph was in reference to. I'm all for disincentivising outsourcing, but GE is an insanely huge company, and the outsourced/eliminated jobs are probably unrelated to the "Global Research Center". Heck, there were probably more than a few job losses in the NBC division that CNS News hates so much.

Is that the same GE that took a huge chunk of bailout money from Obama and the Demoncrats?

[xoxoxoBruce]

The first part is about electric cars. If that doesn't interest you the bailout starts about 3:40.

[classicman]

He was doing relatively well until he said that the bailout saved a billion jobs.
According to the GM Corporate Website, GM only employs 252,000 people globally.
Too bad.

[tw]

Originally Posted by classicman

He was doing relatively well until he said that the bailout saved a billion jobs.
According to the GM Corporate Website, GM only employs 252,000 people globally.

First he said a million; not a billion.

Second, most of GM's work is done by contractors. First tier contractors may be about 5 for every one GM employee. These are people who work only on products and parts that go into GM cars.

The Economist noted this problem. To maintain sales, GM was offering cars to contractor employees with same discounted prices that employees get to buy them. It amounted to something approaching one out of every two GM cars were sold to employees or their contractors at discount. The Economist called this socialism.

GM employed that many people - most of whom were not GM employees. IOW his number at one million is probably too low.

The auto industry employs about 10% of all American workers.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It sounded to me like he mistakenly said billion the second time. But he was talking about both GM, and the entire program, so he may have been referring to jobs saved worldwide, by keeping the banks from playing dominos.

[tw]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

But he was talking about both GM, and the entire program, so he may have been referring to jobs saved worldwide, by keeping the banks from playing dominos.

A worldwide auto industry was not at risk. Only companies such as GM and Chrysler had been playing fast and lose with the spread sheets to appear solvent. Even Ford, by that time, had admitted their management was then enemy of mankind. After multiple physical confrontations between William Clay Ford and Jaques Nasser. Rumored violence saved Ford by eliminating the problem in 2000.

It took government to finally force GM and Chrysler fix their only problem - top management. Even their own Board of Directors would not do what obviously had to be done. These companies were so corrupt that it literally took an order from the White House to fix them.

So many American workers still have jobs because, for example, Obama finally fired Wagoner. The entire corporate structure in GM could not even see why that was so obviously necessary. An alternative was an America, full of healthy foreign auto companies, employing their people while Americans were waiting for those responsible companies to eventually hire Americans. That would have been the worst nightmare scenario leaving Ford as the only solvent American car company left.

Obama did not save jobs worldwide. World jobs were not at risk. Mostly at risk were jobs intentionally destroyed by scumbags in Detriot. Especially by Wagoner and Nardelli. Those Chrysler and GM workers have jobs only because the White House finally forced what Detroit management would not do. Be intelligent.

[xoxoxoBruce]

GM was only something like 55 Billion, of the 787 Billion in that package.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by tw

First he said a million; not a billion.

I listened to it several times for just that reason. Still sounds like Billion to me.

Second, most of GM's work is done by contractors.

Many large companies operate this way now. They hire contractors to reduce costs and avoid paying additional benefits.
There will be a lot more of this in the near future.

[TheMercenary]

Bottom line is MSNBC is owned by GE.

GE is one of the big outsourcing companies in the US today.

They are using MSNBC as their mouth piece. Everything out of that news source is suspect.

[classicman]

Calif borrows $40M a day to pay unemployment

With one in every eight workers unemployed and empty state coffers, California is borrowing billions of dollars from the federal government to pay unemployment insurance.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the state owes $8.6 billion already, and will have to come up with a $362-million payment to Washington by the end of next September.

The continued borrowing means federal unemployment insurance taxes are going to increase, upping the annual payroll costs $21 a year per worker.

California tops the list of 32 states that have borrowed a total of $41 billion to pay claims.

The state took out its first loan from the federal government early last year, to deal with rising payment of benefits and number of claims.

Read more:

The debt, now at $8.6 billion, is expected to reach $10.3 billion for the year, two-thirds greater than last year. Worse, the deficit is projected to hit $13.4 billion by the end of next year and $16 billion in 2012, according to the California Employment Development Department, which runs the program.

Interest on that debt will soon start piling up, forcing the state to come up with a $362-million payment to Washington by the end of next September.

That's money that otherwise would go into the state's general fund, where it could be spent to hire new teachers, provide healthcare to children and beef up law enforcement.

Continued borrowing, meanwhile, means that employers face an automatic hike in their federal unemployment insurance taxes, pushing up annual payroll costs $21 a year for each worker.

Those costs are expected to more than double over the next five years if California continues to borrow from the federal government.

From Here
Now things are only going to get worse as interest on top of debt with more interest continues to accrue and then come due.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Get used to it, business will make sure unemployment won't go down any more than necessary, until after the next election.