Ghost of Occupy Wall Street to haunt GE meeting {In Detroit, Today}

[No Elephants]

When media does cover stuff like this, they do so too late to aid participation.

As most know, GE has been paying zero dollars in income taxes, something the article does not exactly emphasize.

By Scott Malone

Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:21pm EDT

(Reuters) - <snip>

Members of the "99 Percent" movement plan to picket the largest U.S. conglomerate's meeting to protest its low tax rate. The loosely organized coalition, whose name is a contrast to the top 1 percent of wealthy Americans, expects to have more than 2,000 protesters in attendance, according to organizers.

<snip>

The complaints were a reference to GE's low 2010 and 2009 tax rates, which the company says were a result of heavy losses at its GE Capital arm during the financial crisis. A 2011 report by left-leaning think tank Citizens for Tax Justice claimed GE had an effective negative tax rate from 2008 through 2010, which the company has denied.

The 120-year-old company, whose wide swath of operations ranges from manufacturing refrigerators to helping finance power plant projects in the Middle East, last year recorded $14.15 billion in net earnings, a 22 percent increase from 2010. It is one of about a dozen companies whose annual meetings the 99 Percent movement is targeting this year - demonstrators are also expected at the Wells Fargo & Co meeting later on Tuesday in San Francisco.

Protesters interrupted a speech by GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt in Detroit on Tuesday, yelling "pay your fair share," before being escorted out of the event, a meeting of automotive engineers.

"Enough is enough," said Shyquetta McElroy, who traveled from Milwaukee to join the protests. "I made the trip to Detroit because Wisconsin is suffering from a debt epidemic right now and I believe that should not be true when we have big corporations like GE who have only paid 11 percent in taxes."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/24/us-ge-meeting-idUSBRE83N10S20120424

[KoKo]

1. We have to hope that these CEO's (along with Banksters) will finally get shamed

will finally get shamed enough to have some introspection over what they've done to the country. But, I suspect things will have to get far worse...and even then, Immelt will still feel "GE..Brings Good Things to Life" because he is entitled.

Still...it's good to see that people are still managing to get through and express their opinion before being hauled out.