Obama Selects 'Worst CEO of 2008' to Economic Advisory Panel, Says the Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker: FEAOX); How Does Run
11 February 2009 - 2:35AM
PR Newswire (US)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- President Obama's
selection of GE CEO Jeff Immelt as a member of his economic
advisory panel raises questions about the panel's financial acumen,
competence, and patriotism. "Immelt's selection can't be based on
his performance as CEO or loyalty to our country," said Tom Borelli
of Action Fund Management (AFM), the investment adviser to the Free
Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker: FEAOX), a publicly-traded mutual
fund. Immelt was ranked as one of the Five Worst
Non-Financial-Crisis-Related CEOs of 2008, by the FEAOX in December
2008. "Under Immelt's leadership, GE's share price has dropped to
14-year lows and has underperformed in both bull and bear stock
markets," said Borelli. GE Seems to be facing its own economic
crisis brought about by Immelt: -- Late last year GE was forced to
raise about $15 billion to assist GE Capital - its ailing finance
unit; -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is temporarily
guaranteeing up to $139 billion of GE's financial unit's debt; and
-- Stock analysts and bond rating agencies recently stated that
GE's triple-A credit rating and its dividend are in jeopardy.
Immelt has also consistently defended GE's right to profit from
business dealings with the government of Iran - a state sponsor of
terror, Borelli said. GE's customers included government owned
electrical utilities and the Minister of Oil despite the fact that
the CIA stated that it's the Iranian government's policy to
"facilitate the killing of Americans in Iraq." In defending its
business dealings with Iran to the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, GE stated that, "The issue of whether to conduct
business in certain countries is complex; we must take into account
not only the views of the U.S. Government but all relevant
stakeholders." GE conducted business with Iran until mid-2008.
"Given Immelt's track record we're astonished that Obama would
select him to an advisory board," said Borelli. "But let's not
forget that GE is one of the biggest players in the Washington D.C.
political scene - spending an average of over $20 million annually
for lobbying over the past four years." "We also wonder whether
Immelt promised to promote Obama's green agenda though NBC's vast
media empire. Timely news and entertainment programming could
advance public support of cap-and-trade legislation to address
global warming which might mandate sales of GE wind turbines -
creating a win-win for Obama and Immelt, but a lose-lose, we
believe, for consumers, taxpayers and GE shareholders," Borelli
said. The FEAOX owns approximately 8,000 shares of GE stock. By
investing in the FEAOX (http://www.feaox.com/), individuals can
participate in the global warming debate while having an
opportunity to earn a financial return through ownership of a
large-cap mutual fund. With a minimum investment of $2,500,
individuals can join FEAOX effort to make CEOs justify their
positions on global warming. FEAOX is available exclusively through
Northern Lights Distributors LLC, (applications may be obtained at
http://www.feaox.com/how.html), and through E*Trade Financial,
Scottrade, TD Ameritrade and HSBC. Mutual Funds involve risk
including the possible loss of principal. An investor should
consider the Free Enterprise Action Fund's investment objective,
risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing. This and
other information about the Funds is contained in the fund's
prospectus
http://www.freeenterpriseactionfund.com/pdfs/free_enterprise_prospectus.pdf,
which can be obtained by calling 1-800-766-3960). Please read the
prospectus carefully before investing. Distributed by Northern
Lights Distributors, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. To schedule an
interview with Dr. Tom Borelli, contact Amber Christian at
703-548-1160 DATASOURCE: Free Enterprise Action Fund CONTACT: Amber
Christian, +1-703-548-1160, for Free Enterprise Action Fund Web
Site: http://www.feaox.com/
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