Obama’s recovery strategy undermined by GE’s tax escape

On the day that he announced that Jeff Immelt would chair a new White House advisory committee on jobs and competitiveness, Barack Obama said that General Electric and its chief executive had “something to teach business all across America” about competing in the global economy.

America had to return to the principles of inventor and GE founder Thomas Edison, the US president said at a GE plant in Schenactady, and “nobody understands this better than Jeff Immelt”.

But today, about two months later, the White House has been forced on the defensive about the choice after reports about GE’s aggressive tax planning strategies and accusations that the group – which made $14.2bn in profits last year – had not paid a cent of tax in 2010.