If Shakespeare were alive today, he’d be challenged to write anything as dramatic as the epic chapter of history that concluded this week, with one mega-CEO solidifying his position on top of the world and another forced to step down from the heights of power.
The story begins in 2008, in the autumn of the last year of George W. Bush’s troubled presidency. A catastrophic meltdown of the financial markets had brought Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to Congress to plead for $700 billion to buy up “troubled assets” in order to stabilize the financial system.
But then, in an Oct. 13 meeting, Paulson told the CEOs of the nation’s biggest banks that the government was instead going to buy a stake in their companies. Paulson said the “investments” were mandatory, whether the banks wanted the money or not, because the public must not find out which banks were weak.
The bailout was extremely unpopular — one congressman said calls to his office were coming in 50-50; half “No” and half “Hell, no.” The following February, those same bank executives were hauled before Congress and attacked as villains who were living large on taxpayer money. In March, President Barack Obama called the bankers to the White House for a meeting in the state dining room. “My administration,” Obama said, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
But one CEO wanted nothing to do with the government’s “help.” JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon showed up at the meeting holding an oversized check for $25 billion to pay back the bailout he never wanted. Obama refused to take it.
One hundred and eighty degrees away, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt was echoing White House talking points in a speech to shareholders at GE’s 2009 annual meeting in Orlando. Immelt told investors that the economic downturn had “fundamentally reset” the way companies do business, and capitalism itself. He said the recession “would ultimately lead to changes such as greater government involvement in business.”
Immelt said he had a plan to capture some of the $2 trillion of government stimulus spending worldwide. Angry shareholders wondered if part of his plan was to silence criticism of Obama’s policies on the company-owned TV networks: NBC, CNBC and MSNBC. Speaker after speaker came to the microphone to complain about biased news coverage. Immelt insisted he was “hands-off.”
But that may not have been true. The New York Post reported that after CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli’s rant against bailouts inspired hundreds of “tea party” tax protests across the country, the “top suits and some of the on-air talent at CNBC” were called to a secret three-hour meeting with Immelt to discuss whether the business news channel had “turned into the President Obama-bashing network.”
Eight years have passed. How did the story turn out for everybody?
• The tea party groups were harassed by the IRS.
• Everyone with any experience in government was rejected for president in favor of a billionaire businessman.
• Jamie Dimon has just outlasted another potential successor and continues to run JP Morgan Chase, outperforming competitors.
• Jeffrey Immelt has just stepped down as CEO of General Electric amid complaints from shareholders about the weak performance of the stock.
What does it all mean?
Only Shakespeare could explain it. But a theater critic might write that the “fundamental reset of capitalism” laid an egg.
Susan Shelley is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. Reach her at Susan@SusanShelley.com.