General Electric ready to collapse, much bigger than Enron, bailout needed?

[136or142]

So, what happens if THIS goes down?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/madoff-whistleblower-claims-ge-committing-accounting-fraud-131211577.html

Madoff whistleblower claims General Electric is committing fraud ‘bigger than Enron and Worldcom combined’

“t’s the biggest, bigger than Enron and WorldCom combined,” he wrote. “In fact, GE’s $38 Billion in accounting fraud amounts to over 40% of GE’s market capitalization, making it far more serious than either the Enron or WorldCom accounting frauds.”

Markopolos is calling GE “GEnron,” because the company appears to be “using many of the same accounting tricks that Enron did.”

At the center of his investigation are eight long-term care insurance deals that GE executed. The report alleges that the GE has been hiding “massive loss ratios” and “exponentially increasing dollar losses.”

[continued]

One thing I like to point out about the U.S economy when people keep expecting a recession with Trump and the tariffs is just how resilient the U.S economy is due to it being so large and diversified.  G.E has total assets of $309 billion as of December 31, 2018 and a total workforce (likely worldwide workforce) of 283,000.    The U.S economy last year was around $21 trillion with a total workforce of 160 million.  Not to dismiss the significance of those employed by G.E or those are owed money by G.E, but it's basically a blip in the overall economy.

Not when one ads in the very significant collateral effects. That is every business that in part relies on GE workers and production

I'm sure there would be short term dislocations, but if G.E has valuable assets, I'm also sure they'd be sold off.  Its book value assets have already declined from around $500 billion in 2015 to around $300 in 2018.  

[Tartarus Sauce]

we should add a lot more public shaming of the rich dudes that are sh**t business men that walk away with buckets of money after failing miserably at their job

Agreed. People like Trump would never have garnered traction if people understood what a terrible businessman he was. It’s a core part of his brand.

[136or142]

we should add a lot more public shaming of the rich dudes that are sh**t business men that walk away with buckets of money after failing miserably at their job

Agreed. People like Trump would never have garnered traction if people understood what a terrible businessman he was. It’s a core part of his brand.

The extreme difference in the treatment of personal bankruptcy versus corporate bankruptcy is one of the biggest signs of how bankrupt the U.S political system is.

[Indy Texas]

we should add a lot more public shaming of the rich dudes that are sh**t business men that walk away with buckets of money after failing miserably at their job

Agreed. People like Trump would never have garnered traction if people understood what a terrible businessman he was. It’s a core part of his brand.

The extreme difference in the treatment of personal bankruptcy versus corporate bankruptcy is one of the biggest signs of how bankrupt the U.S political system is.

Also, the shaming of government and personal borrowing and the extolling of corporate borrowing as a justifiable or wise business decision.

(federal government borrows money to build roads and bridges and educate children)

"YOU CAN'T SPEND YOUR WAY TO PROSPERITY! OUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE CRUSHED BY THE BURDEN OF DEBT!"

(company borrows money to pay dividends to shareholders and buy back shares)

"THIS IS A PERFECTLY SENSIBLE RETURN OF CAPITAL TO SHAREHOLDERS!"

[dead0man]

we should add a lot more public shaming of the rich dudes that are sh**t business men that walk away with buckets of money after failing miserably at their job

Agreed. People like Trump would never have garnered traction if people understood what a terrible businessman he was. It’s a core part of his brand.

The extreme difference in the treatment of personal bankruptcy versus corporate bankruptcy is one of the biggest signs of how bankrupt the U.S political system is.

I have seen private bankruptcy up close and it went very well for the people doing the bankrupting.  What's wrong with personal bankruptcy in the US?

[136or142]

we should add a lot more public shaming of the rich dudes that are sh**t business men that walk away with buckets of money after failing miserably at their job

Agreed. People like Trump would never have garnered traction if people understood what a terrible businessman he was. It’s a core part of his brand.

The extreme difference in the treatment of personal bankruptcy versus corporate bankruptcy is one of the biggest signs of how bankrupt the U.S political system is.

I have seen private bankruptcy up close and it went very well for the people doing the bankrupting.  What's wrong with personal bankruptcy in the US?

Did you see this before or after the new bankruptcy law of 2005?

If an individual declares bankruptcy, their life is a great struggle for at least the next few years, businesses, like Donald Trump's declare bankruptcy as smart business decisions. 

This creates an incentive for a person to find a way to incorporate their life and make others pay for their expenses.

[dead0man]

Did you see this before or after the new bankruptcy law of 2005?

after

If an individual declares bankruptcy, their life is a great struggle for at least the next few years,

it's hard to get cheap credit right afterwords, but it was oddly (or not) easier than before when there was excessive debt.  Other than fewer phone calls from banks trying to get their money, there was no other difference in day to day life. How could there be?  I'm not sure how a personal bankruptcy would make life a great struggle...especially if the only other option was extreme debt.  I don't know why more people don't advantage of it.  I'm sure if you made a habit of doing it you might eventually run into problems of getting any credit, but you'd have to be a real jerk to make a habit of it on purpose.