We’re right! They’re wrong! End of story!
To those of you who listen to Andrew Wilkow over satellite radio those words are familiar. Mr. Wilkow presents a very compelling program on channel 125 XM-Sirius radio every weekday from 12 to 3 P.M. ET. (I listen whenever I’m driving anywhere in my vehicle.)
In reference to the article below, I just happen to be on the road while Andrew was giving his spiel on General Electric (GE)…and a great spiel it was! (Wish I could remember word for word. It’s good material for a speech and/or just chattering around the water cooler.) In any event, I’ve made some personal observations here by connecting the dots to the chart I have pasted below the Washington Times article.
If you note that General Electric has spent less in Lobbying expenses in 2009 than in previous years (even though the year is not over), there is good reason for that. Why do they need to spend another dime when they got what they wanted…the 111th Congress and Obama!
And why do they need them? Both GE and Obama & Company are all on the same page when it comes to universal health care; a conspiracy? You bet! It’s all a part of this New World Order that I’ve been harping about for the last umpteen years. (Speaking of which… I recently returned from a trip to Texas visiting friends and family. My good friend John, whom I haven’t seen for quite awhile, reminded me over lunch by saying, “Norm, remember when you use to talk about the one world government [and that was in the late 1970’s!]. Well I didn’t believe you then. But dang! You were right on the money!”)
Back to GE…What’s in it for them (“them”, I said…and not you!)? This universal health care business is just that! Business! Business for GE (and of course Obama & company) They could care less about you except for the fact that you will be the one paying for the most expensive health care ever to come down the pike.
Without getting into all the details (I’ll leave that for Andrew), GE stands to make a fortune in health care related issues…especially when it comes to medical equipment made by…guess who? And who do you suppose is going to computerize all those millions of medical records? Ah, now you’re getting the picture.
So what is GE going to do with all that lobbying money they have set aside? They no longer have to bribe Obama & company for they’re all in it together. What you are going to witness in the next few months is millions of dollars spent on advertizing. That’s right, advertising just to convince you as to where they’re going with all this. Watch for a huge increase in advertising on all GE owned television stations and wherever else they can blow a few million. This advertising should consist of everything health related; medicines/drugs, medical equipment, and maybe even some sort of consulting and/or legal services. Tune in and watch the ads! – Norman E. Hooben
The Washington Times
Monday, May 11, 2009
WILKOW/ RIZZUTO: GE a corporate sponsor
Andrew Wilkow and Nick Rizzuto
COMMENTARY:
For all of the carping liberals did for eight years about corporate cronyism in George W. Bush's White House, they seem to turn a blind eye to the same behavior in President Obama's. With plans in place for a major overhaul in the health-care industry, General Electric is positioning itself to become a major beneficiary of these health care reforms.
Recently at the Business and Social Responsibility Conference, General Electric Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt referred to America's current economic crisis as part of a "reset" rather than part of an economic cycle, saying, "People who understand that will prosper in the future, and people who don't understand that will get left behind."
In the same address, Mr. Immelt, who is also a member of Mr. Obama's economic recovery advisory board, added, "The intersection of government and business will be changed, maybe for a generation." In other words, companies should be prepared to beg for a seat at the government's table if they plan on remaining lucrative.
Imagine that on the eve of the Iraq war, the CEO of Halliburton had declared that since Sept. 11, 2001, the relationship between the government and corporate interests have become one in the same.
Of course, Mr. Immelt's rhetoric about corporate responsibility was undercut last year when GE's once vaunted financial services business, GE Capital, was forced to ask the government for what amounted to a $140 billion government bailout.
Mr. Immelt's words betray GE's willingness to partner with the Obama government in order to turn a profit. To this end, GE has appointed Mr. Obama's former nominee for secretary of health and human services, Tom Daschle, to the board of advisers for Healthymagination, an initiative launched by General Electric in partnership along with Intel, which will invest $6 billion over the next six years on "health care innovation that will help deliver better care to more people at lower cost."
Mr. Daschle said, "We can only find real solutions in health care when business, government and their partners work together."
In 2008, Mr. Daschle wrote the book "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis" in which he explains his radical solutions to the problems in American health care. In the book, Mr. Daschle calls for a British-style Federal Council on health care.
The profitability of GE's new venture will depend heavily on the nationalization of the health care industry. The standardization and streamlining of health care recordkeeping, something on which Mr. Obama ran in 2008, would require a massive government contract for the technology to achieve such standardization.
Mr. Obama has introduced a plan to computerize all health records within five years. Independent studies from Harvard, Rand Corp. and the Commonwealth Fund have estimated that such a plan could cost at least $75 billion to $100 billion over the next 10 years. Healthymagination is readying just such a technology, claiming that they will seek to "increase the use and capability of electronic medical record (EMR) technology and other information technology." With Mr. Obama's ally Mr. Daschle on board, Healthymagination is sure to have more than a leg up on its competition when it comes time to dole out these massive contracts.
Under the cloak of corporate responsibility, General Electric seeks to benefit to the tune of billions from the passage of Mr. Obama's health care reform. On its corporate Web site, Healthymagination admits it will use every tool at its disposal to achieve its goals, including NBC Universal, the parent company of MSNBC which offers nearly uncritical coverage of Mr. Obama and his policies.
In effect, NBC Universal would become the propaganda arm of the administrations drive for the nationalization of health care, pushing its passage in its print and television properties.
Healthymagination states its target dates for the completion of its various initiatives as 2015, well into a second Obama term. This means GE will have a deep financial interest in Mr. Obama's re-election; a fact that will no doubt be reflected in its media divisions. It will certainly be interesting to see if the left-wing watchdogs howl, or if they will conclude this is an acceptable level of collusion between the White House and a multinational conglomerate.
• Andrew Wilkow is the host of Sirius/XM Satellite radio's Wilkow Majority program. Nick Rizzuto is his producer.
Lobbying
General Electric
Client Profile: Summary, 2009
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