GE's CEO, Jeffery Immelt, Thinks State-Run Communism Works

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Jeffery Immelt, a member of the President's Jobs Council and CEO of General Electric (GE),  basically said that the Chinese system of communism as a form of government "works".   But, for whom does it work? Obviously, with masses of cheap labor available, American companies, like GE, think it works.  That's why Immelt has spent his years as the head of GE in outsourcing one manufacturing operation after another to China.

But, this opinion by Mr. Immelt just ignores reality.

First of all, the only reason that China has become the economic powerhouse that it is today is because, beginning in 1979, China introduced economic reforms that allowed "capitalist" concepts of entrepreneurship and private enterprise to exist.  Today, because of those reforms, more than 70% of China's GDP is from free-market, private enterprise. It wasn't communism that allowed China to grew economically, it was creeping capitalism. 

Secondly, it appears that Mr. Immelt is completely ignorant of how poor China really is.  In a country of 1.3 billion people, almost 1/2 billion of those live on less than $2/day.  That's for food, clothing, and housing. And, for nearly two-thirds of the population, electricity is only a dream. This, in a country, that considers people to be in poverty if they make less than $94 (U.S.) per year.  Immelt should think about that whenever he's slugging down a $4 Frappuccino from his local Starbucks (probably one of two or three for the day). 

The problem with Americans like Immelt is that, when they visit China, they only do so as guests of the government.  Then, that government only shows those "guests" what they want them to see.  Instead of seeing underage people working in sweatshop conditions, or horrendous living and working conditions, they only see the best of all conditions in that country.

With someone like Immelt on the President's Jobs Council, it's no wonder that unemployment has remained so high under Obama.

References:

--- Washington Free Beacon: Immelt: State Run Communism in China Works: http://freebeacon.com/immelt-state-run-communism-in-china-works/

--- Banking To Lift Poverty In China: http://laowaiblog.com/banking-for-the-poor-2/

--- Wikipedia: Chinese Economic Reform: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform

--- Wikipedia: China: Suicide in the People's Republic of China: Working Conditions And Suicide:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China