I worked at a GE plant in a small town of the Midwest. I had a chance to conduct the extensive interviews with hourly workers as well as a general manager and other managers. That experience got me thinking about the role of manufacturing in a local community. The plant was supporting the local economy while their work environment was tough (Later on, I moved to Palo Alto to work for the corporate office of HP. When I got to visit HP plants, I realized how HP’s manufacturing environment and management system were different from those of GE.) I remember how Jack Welch was purposefully admired at the plant. At that time, GE had many manufacturing operations in the U.S. Now it has shifted them overseas.
Some argue GE is not a manufacturing company any more but a financial one. In a sense, the rise and fall of GE manufacturing operations in the U.S. reflect what has gone wrong with the U.S. economy.
From Zero Hedge:
The fallout in the aftermath of last week's infamous tweet by Jack Welch in which he dares to accuse the BLS of manipulating labor data (the same BLS which has already been purposefully caught leaking data, but never actually caught red handed manipulating it: after all things like these don't happen, Liborgate notwithstanding), something which it did (although the one thing that nobody dares to say is "why" because if suddenly it becomes clear that if this most critical of economic indicators is fudged, then every other one must be) has begun. Moments ago, in response to perceived political badgering by Fortune and Reuters, Jack Welch, the CEO of Chairman of GE from 1981 to 2001, just after the company's stock peaked at $593 billion, the outspoken critic of Obama has decided to sever ties with both the CNN-controlled publication and with the Thomson Reuters organization, and instead going forward will use the WSJ as a platform. What drove Welch over the edge is the now traditional media response of attacking the person instead of the argument whenever the status quo is threatened, in this case predicated by articles by both Fortune and Reuters.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-09/jack-welch-terminates-contract-reuters-fortune-aftermath-infamous-tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment