GE, Once America's Most Valuable Company, Now Fights Junk Bond Status

[sid]

How could this have happened?

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/16/ge-o...bond-name.html

[clintonhater]

It's profoundly tragic. I've known several people who worked for their huge plant near Albany, NY--it was work & a company to be proud of.

But what's even more heartbreaking is the demise of Kodak in Rochester--the company that brought photography to the masses; to work for that company was to have the best job in the world in your field. I can't believe I'm now living in a world in which Kodak film & cameras are no longer a part of almost everyone's daily life.

[Allen]

When I worked at the refinery there were plaques on the walls from years past where Kodak was our best customer for benzpyrene. They used it to make camera film and in the development of prints. Then came the digital camera's. The refinery still makes the benzene derivative for making various forms of plastics.

GE, I just lost a bunch of money in the stock market by buying stock a few months ago when there was a lot of hype about it reaching the bottom and could only improve from that point. No, it continued to sink like an anchor. Like Sears they are selling off assets and interest that have not made them much money in the past. One thing I've heard about is they are stuck with 4,000 locomotives that they can't get rid of. They are heavily loaded with debt. In short--poor management.

[dogtag]

It's profoundly tragic. I've known several people who worked for their huge plant near Albany, NY--it was work & a company to be proud of.

But what's even more heartbreaking is the demise of Kodak in Rochester--the company that brought photography to the masses; to work for that company was to have the best job in the world in your field. I can't believe I'm now living in a world in which Kodak film & cameras are no longer a part of almost everyone's daily life.

Used to be you took a picture of family or a famous site.
Now everyone snaps pictures of anything and everything.
No one can walk down the street without someone you don't
know taking a picture of you. I find it disquieting.

[Vern Humphrey]

And not a damn' thing we can do about it.

[dogtag]

And not a damn' think we can do about it.

Well, I don't take pictures of anybody. I'm doing my bit.

[JB White]

....GE, I just lost a bunch of money in the stock market by buying stock a few months ago when there was a lot of hype about it reaching the bottom and could only improve from that point. No, it continued to sink like an anchor. Like Sears they are selling off assets and interest that have not made them much money in the past. One thing I've heard about is they are stuck with 4,000 locomotives that they can't get rid of. They are heavily loaded with debt. In short--poor management.

Family member just got screwed on a GE deal. They make locomotive parts and GE sold them off to a tiny company who can't really afford them. So, GE is playing nursemaid for the next six months to get them up and running, or so they say. The insurance plans just fell into the toilet and at his age it looks as though he's being forced into retirement with nothing but Social Security.
Another American who's hard work didn't pay off in the end.

[JOHN COOK]

GE, I just lost a bunch of money in the stock market by buying stock a few months ago when there was a lot of hype about it reaching the bottom and could only improve from that point. No, it continued to sink like an anchor. Like Sears they are selling off assets and interest that have not made them much money in the past. One thing I've heard about is they are stuck with 4,000 locomotives that they can't get rid of. They are heavily loaded with debt. In short--poor management.

I sold my GE stock @ $ 109.00 a share years ago right before they had a 3 to 1 split. I never got back in GE and they hovered around 35- 42- dollars a long time after that. That was their first 3 to 1 split but they had several 2 to 1 splits prior to the 3 to 1. Don't know what it's selling for at present. I quit trying to buy and sell and turned it over to a Financial Adviser. I'm well pleased with results.

john

[togor]

Family member just got screwed on a GE deal. They make locomotive parts and GE sold them off to a tiny company who can't really afford them. So, GE is playing nursemaid for the next six months to get them up and running, or so they say. The insurance plans just fell into the toilet and at his age it looks as though he's being forced into retirement with nothing but Social Security.
Another American who's hard work didn't pay off in the end.

Sorry for someone having hard times, but if they got a good GE wage and many years on the line, then they could have salted something away. Industrial workers in this day-and-age shouldn't be surprised. All those GM workers who were collecting plush retirement benefits by age 50 opened the door for the Japanese and South Koreans.

[Clark Howard]

When GE's president kissed up to Obama, I knew the end was in sight. Stupid managers bankrupt good companies. Regards, Clark

[JB White]

Sorry for someone having hard times, but if they got a good GE wage and many years on the line, then they could have salted something away. Industrial workers in this day-and-age shouldn't be surprised. All those GM workers who were collecting plush retirement benefits by age 50 opened the door for the Japanese and South Koreans.

Let me start by telling you this time that you know not what you are talking about. You are judging by todays economy and lifestyles. Assuming everyone had the same breaks. Things have happened in the past 75 years which were not only unpredictable, but totally unimaginable for this country 3/4 of a century ago. The options you imply weren't available back then. Not unless one had a foot up and the ability to invest, which very few people were able to do.

The man came from poverty in a Chicago immigrant slum. Worked since he was 15 to help feed and clothe his siblings. Then worked his way up the ladder all the while raising his own family and still helping his widowed mother and siblings hold on to their home. Not counting all the odd jobs he took as a kid, this man had only 3 jobs in his adult life and was considered a "valuable asset" by all three employers.
Employer #1 went belly up due to mismanagement and the company owned benefit plans went down the drain with said company.
Employer #2 eventually crashed and burned due to embezzlement. The 401K he was using to make up lost ground turned out to be nothing more than a paper shell. People went to jail over that but it didn't do him any good.
Employer #3 came about in the 1990's. Again he trusted a solid company with benefit plans as he had no other choice. Now they have sold out and the new rules aren't favorable. He's currently 78 years old. He's screwed.
Don't you dare imply he didn't DO SOMETHING in your near sighted hindsight.

[togor]

But JB....is that not our economic system? That the slow are eaten by the fast, the dull by the sharp, the small by the large, etc.? That business owners are entitled to operate their enterprise free of intrusion from government or labor? Yes, that is our system and what it means is that every worker always consider the odds that his horse could get shot out from under him at the worst possible moment. You say the man is screwed, but he's had 78 years on Earth already, which is 24 more years than my father got, and 14 more than my father-in-law. But sticking to the economic side, Social Security is still there for him, but how can we not note the irony that even there, Vernon would have had him doing his own investments all of these years instead of "losing" that money to tax withholding.

I get what you are saying about the arc of his work life, and the changes in the economy for workers in heavy industry. Remember: Milwaukee kid, used to go with my dad to his shop floor, find the smell of machine oil to be an agreeable one. But do I wonder if when you tell this man's story, if you realize that the remedies for some of the things that happened to him are actually found on the left, and that to the right, everything went off just as it should.

[JB White]

Togor, on the left? I see what the left has to offer. It boils down to taking my hard earned money (what I have remaining) and handing it to those who don't earn anything all the while telling the 'left' to take more from me because they need it more than I. I see the left "taxing the rich" meaning what I do have remaining after being gouged goes in higher prices at the register in addition to the extra taxes. I have always said that not once has a poor man signed my paychecks. The rich man kept on investing and paying me to make his investments work. I never cared about how much he made. It was about how much he agreed to pay me so I could make my own way in life.
Pretty much what happened to the man at the GE subsidiary. Unlike him, I worked union construction and my benefits were regarded as part of my hourly wage package so that is still in place.

I can see where we may not agree again. I doubt I will change your mind and I think you are aware that you will not be changing mine.

[Clark Howard]

So place him on your ignore list!! Regards, Clark

[togor]

JB my first horse got shot out from under me after 4.5 years on the job. The whole site went tits-up and everyone got 60 days severance. I worked hard, did good work, but when the money is gone the money is gone. Ever since through many other employers I did the calculation....what are the odds of this shop being open in 6 months or a year with me still in it? Sometimes I didn't like the odds and it was time to move.

Being a diligent, hard worker is not enough to make it in our system. That's just the way it is. You have to have a skill that people want to buy, and be able to give people a reason to buy it from you. This is from my Gospel 101 sermon to my own kids as they start their journeys.

I know there are stories of people who feel used up by our labor market, but it is what it is. As for what to do about it....moving the things hard to the left would be a lousy idea, but moving to the left a little, so that people like your family member don't get screwed as bad, maybe not a terrible thing, right?

Say CFPB, that Liz Warren brainchild that is supposed to push back against shoddy and predatory lending practices by big banks. We're told this is a bad idea. But why? Why is it bad to limit big banks from hanging loans on people that they can never repay?

I know guys that went into engineering Management in their first company and stayed there. Two decades of bonuses and a nice life. Now middle aged and there is news of company re-orgs in the wind. Guess what? No one wants someone else's middle managers. I had to do it sometimes but mostly I stayed technical and in the hard skills, even if that left money on the table.