If you pick up a copy of the Washington Examiner today, be sure to turn to the K Street page, and take in my column/review of Casino Jack, the new Jack Abramoff documentary, as well as this interesting wire story further down the page:
Every summer since 2000, General Electric Co. has worked with the world’s largest communist party to pick about 25 Chinese executives for the company’s leadership program in Crotonville on New York’s Hudson River.
I’ve pasted other highlights below, but I want to put this Bloomberg story in some context. First, I’m reminded of GE CEO Jeff Immelt’s talk at the Export-Import Bank’s annual conference in which he declared “Germany is the model” for state-corporate cooperation and gushed about China’s “an incredible unanimity of purpose from top to bottom.”
Also, recall last year, when Immelt wrote this to shareholders:
It’s clear GE has an affinity for the robust corporatism of Asia and Europe. Ira Stoll at The Future of Capitalism blog also noticed the GE-commie-lobbying story, too, and dug up more Immelt quotes fawning over government, but also this gem, lauding Ronald Reagan and Communist China in the same breath:
Now, for some more highlights from the Bloomberg piece:
Lobbying China is becoming a growth industry as the country promotes state-owned businesses and limits market-opening moves that followed its 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization. Programs like GE’s, along with efforts from firms headed by Washington veterans such as former U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, help companies convince officials that what’s good for business is good for China.
