Why Is GE Exempt From Government-Ordered Pay Cuts?

You pay his salary, suckers

Since the government is now deciding who gets paid what at companies that received bailouts, it begs the questions: Why are employees of General Electric, owner of MSNBC, Obama's favorite network, exempt from these pay cuts?

Oh, they have a loophole as noted in this item from a few months back? How convenient.

General Electric, the world's largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government's key rescue programs for banks.

At the same time, GE has avoided many of the restrictions facing other financial giants getting help from the government.

The company did not initially qualify for the program, under which the government sought to unfreeze credit markets by guaranteeing debt sold by banking firms. But regulators soon loosened the eligibility requirements, in part because of behind-the-scenes appeals from GE.

As a result, GE has joined major banks collectively saving billions of dollars by raising money for their operations at lower interest rates. Public records show that GE Capital, the company's massive financing arm, has issued nearly a quarter of the $340 billion in debt backed by the program, which is known as the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program, or TLGP. The government's actions have been "powerful and helpful" to the company, GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt acknowledged in December.

Unlike other major lenders participating in the debt guarantee program, including Bank of America, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase, GE has never been subject to the Fed's stress tests or its rules for limiting risk. Also unlike firms that have received bailout money in the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, GE is not subject to restrictions such as limits on executive compensation.

The debt guarantee program that GE joined is administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was reluctant to take on the new mission, according to current and former officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. The FDIC also initially resisted expanding the pool of eligible companies, fearing it would add more risk to the program, the officials said.

So we now have the government targeting executives at these bailed-out banks, but GE, home of the network that shamelessly propagandizes for Obama and the Democrats, and even receives talking points from them while on the air, is exempt.

Their high-profile, low-rated babblehead Keith Olbermann reportedly is paid a ridiculous $7 million annually. According to King Obama's new pay structure, he'd be whacked down to $350,000. That seems fair to me, although he'd still be overpaid based on his ratings. One imagines his grossly-inflated paycheck must be one of the highest at GE.

C'mon, Olby, man up and volunteer to return your fair share to the people. Who knows, maybe Obama will have you over for secret briefings more often as a reward.

Naturally, Obama again appears in an "exclusive" on his favorite network and pretends his War on Fox News isn't causing him to lose sleep.



Sure, it's just causing you to lose your approval rating.