I‘ve written a good bit about GE, which I call “the for-profit arm of the Obama administration.”
The company has led the charge for a cap-and-trade scheme in greenhouse gases, lobbied for the job-killing light-bulb law, jumped onto the subsidized bandwagon of research on embryos, and generally cozied up to the Obama administration while oozing profound a “reset economy” in which government is a “partner.”
And of course, GE employs Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow.
Now the company is playing up its former relationship with Ronald Reagan, a conservative hero. This has Tom Borelli of the Free Enterprise Project upset:
“I’m outraged over Immelt’s shameless exploitation of President Reagan’s historic presidency to improve GE’s reputation among conservatives. Reagan is the champion of conservatives because he fought for liberty and limited government. In contrast, Immelt uses GE’s vast lobbying resources to expand the size and role of government in order to create markets for its products and loot Americans of their liberty,” said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., Director of the National Center for Public Research’s Free Enterprise Project….
In anticipating a Tea Party surge of conservatives to be elected next November, Immelt needs to steer the GE ship hard right. With his revenue increasingly dependent on government projects, policies, and subsidies, Immelt can’t be caught on the progressive aisle if the Republicans take charge in Congress. That’s why Immelt is running ads recalling Reagan’s role with GE during the 1950’s,” added Borelli.
Borelli lists many GE offenses against Reagan’s free-market philosophy, so his essay is worth a read.
