GE says it may move up to 500 jobs overseas

When Donald Trump said “we-are-led-by-veryverystupidpeople” you probably thought he was exaggerating.  The GOP lead congress refused to re-authorize the U.S. Export Import Bank on the grounds that it was helping companies that don’t need any help.  This is the consequence of that very stupid decision.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

General Electric LogoGeneral Electric Co. may move about 500 American jobs overseas because Congress did not renew a government program that allows foreign companies to borrow money to buy U.S. products, the industrial conglomerate said Tuesday.

Authorization for the U.S. Export Import Bank was not approved by Congress, forcing it to stop lending July 1. Foreign companies use the agency to buy expensive U.S. products when bank loans are not possible.

As a result, GE says 100 jobs from a Houston plant that makes gas turbines will move to Hungary and China in 2016. The Fairfield, Connecticut, company says those countries have lending options in place for customers.

“We do not make today’s announcements lightly and in fact, have done everything in our power to avoid making these moves at all, but Congress left us no choice when it failed to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank this summer,” said John Rice, GE’s vice chairman.

Another 400 jobs could be created in France instead of factories in South Carolina, Maine and New York if the company wins projects it is bidding on. The projects require financing, and the export credit agency in France has agreed to provide it.

GE said it’s bidding on projects valued at $11 billion that require export financing. It said it has reached agreement with the French export credit agency to provide a line of credit for global power projects. GE said the line of credit will initially support potential orders in international markets that include Indonesia.

To access the required export credit for its customers of its aeroderivatives turbines, GE will move its final assembly from the U.S. to Hungary and China. As related projects are bid and won in these two product lines, GE said it will move approximately 500 jobs from Texas, South Carolina, Maine and New York to France, Hungary and China.

The embattled and little-known banking agency has been at the center of a fight between tea party Republicans who say it’s not needed and Democrats and some Republicans — backed by manufacturers and large businesses — who say it promotes trade and helps create jobs.

The Ex-Im Bank’s principal role is to guarantee commercial bank loans to foreign businesses and governments to buy U.S. products. U.S. taxpayers would be responsible for a loan if a company operating overseas defaults on a bank loan used to buy a product made by a U.S. company.

Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times

We are Creating Jobs Somewhere

We are creating jobs in China. Well to be more accurate General Electric is creating those jobs. To accomplish this effort GE is moving their facility from Waukesha, Wisconsin to Beijing. This is Waukesha biggest employer. It’s only been there for 115 years. In addition to moving headquarters, the company will invest $2 billion in China and train more than 65 engineers and create six research centers.

This is the same GE that made $14-billion in the United States last year, but paid no taxes – the same company that employs more people overseas than in the United States.

So let’s get this straight. President Obama appointed GE CEO Chairman Jeff Immelt to head his commission on job creation (Job Czar). He is supposed to help create jobs. I guess the President forgot to tell him in which country he was supposed to be creating those jobs.