See update to this diary below
I read what I thought was great news this morning, about GE giving its $3.2 billion tax refund back to the U.S. Treasury, and working to create one American job to match a job created overseas. I then wrote a diary about it because I was astonished that such a huge corporation would actually have a conscience and do the right thing for America.
However, the story apparently was a hoax. Here's Business Insider on the hoax:
The AP just fell for a hoax press release, which claimed that GE would repay the government the $3.8 billion tax loss carryforward it received. The hoax was designed to correspond with last month's controversy originated by the New York Times about how GE, despite its huge profits, was paying no taxes.
The fake press release titled GE Responds to Public Outcry – Will Donate Entire $3.2 Billion Tax Refund to Help Offset Cuts and Save American Jobs was posted at a site called http://www.genewscenters.com/.
It's a pretty sophisticated fake, since genewscenters.com is just one letter off from genewscenter.com, where GE actually hosts its news.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/...
The hoax was created and perpetrated by @USUncut on Twitter where the news spread like wildfire, taking bloggers and reporters by surprise.
Now while I understand the strategy behind this hoax, in forcing GE to say they're not going to create jobs and are keeping their tax refund money, I'm angry with @USUncut for making this hoax. It got my hopes up, as it got others' hopes up, in the fact that there might actually be fairness and justice in the corporate world. And that this story would help the President for his 2012 election campaign, while helping the U.S. economy as well.
It was wrong of @UsUncut to make and perpetuate this hoax. They got peoples' hopes up, and they certainly won't have me as a supporter. How can I trust @USUncut after this hoax they pulled? I just can't.
There were better ways to make this point, but they didn't.
UPDATE: It turns out it wasn't USUncut that did this, but some group called @theyesmen on Twitter. I've never heard of @theyesmen. Here's the tweet below: