Immelt's Challenge to All CEOs

摘要

In our conversation with GE's Jeff Immelt (p. 24), we asked him about the issue of income inequality, whether CEOs should be concerned and what they might do about it. First, it should be noted that much of what is written and said on this topic is suspect. Scott Winship, who was formerly of Brookings Institution, is now with The Manhattan Institute and has studied income inequality over the last decade, finds that even the best academic research is often flawed. For example, a higher percentage of low-income Americans own their homes free of mortgage debt than do upper-income Americans. Some 28 percent of households in the lowest-income group and 31 percent in the next-to-lowest group owned their homes without a mortgage in 2012. More seniors are in the lower two quintiles, and many have paid off their homes. In the top quin-tile, 11 percent of households own their homes debt-free, the smallest share of any quintile-a counterintuitive result. Much of this data doesn't get factored in the public analysis.