Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calls out General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt from the Senate floor on his company’s history of outsourcing jobs to China. Quoting Mr. Immelt, Sanders says “When I am talking to GE managers, I talk China, China, China, China, China… I am a nut on China.
Every discussion today has to center on China” Mr. Immelt goes on to discuss the high cost of manufacturing in the United States, saying that it is cheaper to build a refrigerator in China and ship it to the US than it is to build one themselves.
Sanders also points out that GE asked for a bailout during the recent financial crisis: “When GE recently had, a couple of years ago, some really difficult economic times, they needed $16 billion to bail them out, I didn’t hear Mr. Immelt going to China, China, China, China, China! I didn’t hear that! I heard Mr. Immelt going to the taxpayers of the United stated for his welfare check!”
Sanders concluded his remarks by urging Immelt and other CEOs who have outsourced jobs to China that “It’s time to start reinvesting in the United States of America.”
It’s clear that Sanders believes companies who receive bailout funds from the US government should in turn re-invest that money in America.