Legal v. Right

Now that it’s old news, maybe we can better digest the fact that GE did not pay taxes. In 2010 it made a $14.2 billion profit worldwide, of this $5.1 billion were from operations within the U.S. Still the corporation paid no taxes. Not only does GE have a whole department and a corporate culture devoted to the strategy of no taxes, it also has powerful lobbyists in D.C. I shared my concerns with a friend, a staunch Republican, and he said, “It’s legal, it’s all legal. The problem is not GE, it’s the government.” The issue is not whether or not it is legal, or whether or not it is the fault of a government whose laws allows this kind of behavior. The problem is whether or not it is right. Not so long ago in our history, discrimination and segregation were legal, but were wrong. The same with GE. What they’re doing may be legal, but it’s wrong. And if it’s wrong we ought not to tolerate it.