General Electric isn't a bank, so how did it nab tens of billions of dollars in federal bank relief? A smart piece by The Washington Post and investigative nonprofit ProPublica reveals how GE nabbed the money but evaded restrictions such as executive-compensation limits—the best of both worlds. GE's massive financial arm, GE Capital, is not classified as a bank. It originated during the Depression to offer consumers loans to buy GE products, but now, as the Post writes, it is "one of the world's largest and most-diverse financial operations." It would be the nation's seventh-largest banking company if it were a bank. The Obama administration essentially wants to close this loophole and make companies that accept bailout money accept bailout rules by forcing companies like GE to pick either commerce or banking.
Read it at The Washington Post
