“Unable to Unload Limping Divisions, GE Invests in Propping Them Up” is the headline of this article in today’s Wall Street Journal.
If you the read the article, however, you’ll find that it is actually taxpayers that are doing the propping:
In the appliance division [which GE tried unsuccessfully to sell], GE’s union of 2,100 hourly workers in Louisville voted in May to freeze wages as part of GE’s agreement to build energy-efficient hot-water heaters in Louisville. GE also is getting $17 million in government incentives. It hopes the products will open markets and inject new life into GE’s appliance business.
[The chief of GE’s lighting-and-applicance group] believes there is still an outside chance GE might decide to hang on to the units, especially in light of the subsidies and tax breaks the Obama administration is doling out for energy efficiency.
More on GE’s Welfare Queen business strategy: