For 8 years we all heard charges of conflict of interest, collusion, favoritism, etc. because Halliburton appeared to get some special treatment, such as being given no-bid contracts, etc. Of course those same critics totally ignored the fact that Halliburton received dozens of sole source contracts under the Clinton administration.
But how much do we hear about the GE relationship with Obama? GE has been a major supporter of the proposed Cap & Trade legislation. Of course GE also stands to make a tremendous amount of money once Cap & Trade is implemented. More recently GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt has been named by President Obama to replace Paul Volker and become head of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness (formerly the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB).
However, Cap & Trade legislation has been stalled, virtually killed, in the senate. The president has made threats that if the senate didn't move on it that he would use the EPA's regulatory powers to do what he wanted. And now the EPA is doing just that. In January the EPA enacted new rules regarding power plants and emmissions. And this month the EPA issued its first exemption from the rule.
Guess which company will benefit most from that exemption. If you guessed any other company than GE, you are perhaps missing the point of this post. Yes, the Avenal Power Project was given an exemption from the new rules by the EPA. And GE will be providing the major components at the heart of the project. The EPA is stating that it will "grandfather" the project in, however, the project has not begun and has not even been permitted yet
So what will we hear about this? Has there been any criticism, or even much reporting, of the coziness between GE and the Obama administration? Not much, if any. But now that GE is obviously benefitting, will we hear or see any? I'm not holding my breath but will wait and see.
So, does GE become Obama's Halliburton? Or does it get overlooked unless more "exemptions" or other acts of favoritism occur?
Or maybe it will be SEIU, which has multiple locals that have been among the 750 organizations, many of which are unions, to be granted waivers from the Obamacare health coverage requirements.
For more on the story you can read here.
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