GE Not Getting Message About Myth Of Man-Caused Global Warming

I've brought up the subject of General Electric (GE) and it's efforts promoting the concept of man-caused global warming and why they think we must do something about it. "Something" like buy fluorescent light bulbs, (which GE makes and sells), to "clean coal" technology, to solar panels, to wind turbines, to nuclear energy......all things GE makes and sells.

To add to the suspicion of their motives, they own MSNBC, NBC and Newsweek Magazine. These are all major news outlets through which they promote their corporate agenda.....by going "green", they hope to profit. They don't care whether man is causing global warming or not.....as long as they can make a profit. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working. Their stock price, which underperformed the S&P 500 for the past 5 years, reflects that. People are not buying into the global warming myth. The article below illustrates the point.
Peter

source:

Little fund says GE's 'junk science' hurts business
By Jack Markowitz FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, April 10, 2008

General Electric Co.'s stock is a "dog," says Steven J. Milloy, and his opinion goes down from there. He accuses what is possibly America's most admired company of promoting "junk science" -- in this case, the view that human beings cause global warming -- mainly to get environmentalists off its back and to further its own business interests.
But not even all its business interests, says Milloy. Just the fraction that serves its feel-good Earth-saving markets, which it dubs "Ecomagination."

Much larger businesses will be hurt in the long run, Milloy asserts. He sees the entire U.S. and world economies damaged by the waste of billions on a false consensus -- that carbon dioxide emissions from cars, planes, power plants, essentially the entire modern standard of living, are catastrophic for the planet.

"Scientific consensus? There is no consensus," Milloy said by phone from the Potomac, Md., office of a most unusual mutual fund. The Free Enterprise Action Fund has assets of only $11.5 million -- small but hopefully with a big voice.
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The fund wants GE, and other "establishment" corporations it owns smallish pieces of, to quit appeasing anti-business leftists by catering to the carbon dioxide phobia. Free enterprise is actively promoting the enemy, it says, pleading for more government regulations, including a GE favorite, the trading of "carbon credits." General prosperity, freedom and even a better environment are at risk, especially with a left-leaning administration apt to be voted in, according to lawyer Milloy, 49, and fellow fund leader, Thomas J. Borelli, 52, a Ph.D. scientist.

They're bringing a proposal to GE's annual meeting -- to either show the company's own evidence of a man-warmed world or quit imperiling the economy.
Chance of passage is zilch, Milloy admits. Similar resolutions have been shot down by wide margins before. Institutional investors have no interest in fighting a prestigious titan like GE. Or else they also see "green" as a growth market.

And within sensible limits it is, say the dissidents. Supplying products that are fuel-efficient and benefit consumers is "good business." But GE "goes beyond the bounds." It actively lobbies Congress and rallies other companies for tougher regulations, which are bound to "raise energy costs and reduce energy availability." It's the destructive 1990s Kyoto Protocol all over again.

This argument and GE's denial are laid out in the proxy statement for the annual meeting April 23 at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, the lakeside city of GE's locomotive works. The company earned $22.2 billion last year, or $2.17 a share, on $173 billion in sales. Chairman Jeffrey R. Immelt's letter to 607,000 shareholders conceded that GE stock hasn't even outperformed the S&P 500 index the past five years.

But it's no dog to him. "I continue to buy GE stock in the open market," wrote the $19 million-a-year CEO, "just like you do."

Retired business editor Jack Markowitz writes Sundays and Thursdays. He can be reached at jmarkowitz@tribweb.com.