Slowly, piece by piece, the inside details of what happened during the financial meltdown are coming to light. The latest disclosure is that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt were on the New York Federal Reserve Board in 2008, when their institutions got enormous loans, as reported by the New York Times.

This little story tells you just how the insiders do their wheeling and dealing. On Sept. 15, JPMorgan Chase received a $3 billion loan from the Fed. On 12 occasions in October and November 2008, GE issued short term IOUs. The Fed purchased $16 billion of them.

A major business decision recently announced by General Electric Company (GE) involves the purchase of 25,000 electric vehicles from General Motors and others.

Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reports that this is the largest order of ever of its kind. The new electric vehicles shall serve as part of GE's commercial fleet, and some of the units shall be made available for lease by consumers. According to the BusinessWeek report, 11,000 of the new units are being ordered directly from General Motors.

Short and sweet -- General Electric (GE) reported higher profits on slower sales with a positive outlook.

The company reported earnings of $3.2 billion, with EPS of 29 cents, up 32% from the third quarter of 2009. This is the second quarter (oh boy, a streak!) GE increased orders, displaying continuing-earnings growth. Revenue was $35.9 billion for the quarter, down 5% on lower equipment sales and reduced GE Capital assets. GE expects fourth-quarter 2010 Industrial revenues to grow sequentially from third quarter and to be about flat with the year-ago period.

NBC Universal, which recently was the subject of a proposed transaction between General Electric (GE) and Comcast (CMCSA), is having a serious problem with The Jay Leno Show. It's not performing well in the ratings. But wait, there's more, as a typical infomercial narrator might intone: The Tonight Show isn't faring any better under the aegis of Conan O'Brien.

Worse, the issues with the 10 PM Leno programming asset go beyond just his ratings. The show is exerting a negative halo effect over the local newscasts. If you don't have a strong lead-in, then the content that follows will suffer.

Many retail investors have been shrieking as General Electric (GE) hovers around ten year lows and has gone nowhere all year while almost everything else has appreciated. GE is on hot lists and not lists for 2010.

It is one of my holdover picks from 2009 and if it does not improve in the next few days will be my only loser -- for the other, a winner, see: Chasing Value: 2010 -- #3 EZCORP.

General Electric's (GE) chief executive visited France this week, making what some are calling a "last-ditch bid" to acquire the transmission and distribution arm of Areva, a state-owned French company.

Immelt spent some time with two of the closest advisors to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, hoping to convince Sarkozy to ignore political pressure and realize the benefits of GE's $6 billion offer. The French government is rather adamant about keeping the domestic company home, asking a pairing of two French companies (Schneider Electric and Alstom) to rework their initial bid, which was the lowest.

If you are not reading the commentary we receive then you are missing some gems. One of our regulars reminded me of something "my pal Warren" said: "... find companies which can be run by idiots because sooner or later an idiot will be running it."

In Buffett's case he can actually call them up and talk to them. In many cases, he could probably get them to resign. For most of us, all we know is basic things like how's the stock price or has the idiot been indicted?

Some of the venom spewed at General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) every time I write about it, is getting kind of old. I understand the criticism of Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO who takes the blame for everything that is wrong with the company and the economy.

I too have felt that he might have done more. In particular, while I argued Monday that most of the companies divisions were well integrated, or at least related, I am not sure that entertainment has to be a part of the mix, and the company is on the record to jettison the appliance division already.

In considering the plight of the GE shareholder, myself included, what exactly is it that investors would like Immelt to do?

Almost without fail if I write something about General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), or even mention the company in passing, someone will add a comment that its CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, has overstayed his welcome at the company and he has to go.

Here are a few samples:

• "Why is Jeff Immelt still employed by GE? he has ruined the company and cares nothing about his shareholders. He and his board need to go empty handed."

Recently, Zac Bissonnette took Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and its press-release wizards to task for essentially issuing a document that was full of spin but low on substance. This was in regard to Amazon having its "best Christmas ever." I'm sure you've heard about it. Well, I was looking at an article yesterday that talked about some box-office numbers from General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Universal Pictures asset. I kind of got the same feeling about the numbers as Zac did about the Amazon Christmas thing.

Of course, keep in mind, the article I was looking at was not a press release. Still, the execs at NBC Universal are surely pretty proud about the numbers. After all, they are supposed to be best-ever stats. On the domestic side of things, Universal achieved a total box-office gross of approximately $1.1 billion.

On the international front, the studio brought in $1.7 billion. The year-over-year growth rate was flat for domestic theaters, and for international theaters, the company saw a robust 66% increase. Personally, I'm not impressed. To begin with, domestic was flat, and that's not good. And as for international, well, there was no context in terms of the effects of currency rates.

Plus, does it really matter if a studio is achieving high grosses? There's never any comment about profits and losses on specific titles, compensation structures for the stars, etc. To me, this data doesn't say a lot (admittedly, I'll never be satisfied with the amount of disclosure that studios are required to give on their movie projects).

The article mentions two films as drivers for the year that, in my opinion, underperformed in the domestic marketplace: The Incredible Hulk, based on the Marvel (NYSE: MVL) character, and the latest sequel in the Mummy franchise. The latter barely made it over the $100 million mark, and the former only grossed a little better than $130 million. Big deal. You would have figured that Universal could have squeezed some more box-office bucks out of these properties.

Many on Wall Street believe that GE should rid itself of NBC Universal. I'm not one of them, but I concede that Universal Pictures needs to do better. Seriously, Universal Pictures did okay, but not great, in '08. I sincerely hope that CEO Jeffrey Immelt does not allow the studio to rest on these laurels. That would be a shame, and a slap in the face to shareholders.

Disclosure: I own GE; positions can change without notice.

General Electric (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt is a hard man to pin down. He speaks in generalities, and what he says often does not turn out to be true. He has made sweeping comments about how well the company will do providing infrastructure services to countries like India and China. How often does he give a precise update on how that is going?

Now Immelt is talking about cutting costs and expenses at GE. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), in an interview yesterday he said, "Costs will be lower in 2009 than in 2008. That will be true across the board." He offered the observation that the cuts would include employees. How many? No one knows, and he is not saying.

Usually when a chief executives says his company will cut people, he either says how many or what percentage of the workforce it will be. That is not the case here. Immelt is keeping that to himself.

What is more remarkable than the man's reticence is the fact that the company did not move sooner. GE's results have been more modest that people would like The third quarter numbers were down right troubling. GE must have seen that coming. Where were the layoffs of thousands of people back then?

Hard to say. Immelt is cagey.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Maybe the economy is not quite ready to fall off a cliff quite yet, though it appears to be heading in that direction. At least, that's the message this morning coming from Dow stalwart General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE).

General Electric, whose shares have been pounded lately because of concerns about its financing unit, today reported an in-line quarter.

In a press release, GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt, whose job may be in jeopardy, pointed out that the conglomerate was "on track" to meet its revised -- reduced -- guidance issued September 25. He also pointed out, "We have taken a number of steps to protect investors from the downside risk in financial services, and we have ways to mitigate potential disruptions in infrastructure and media markets, but the environment remains challenging."

GE also plans to sustain its dividend through the end of next year.

"We have big backlogs, great products, stable service revenue, strong operating discipline, an unmatched global position and multiple revenue streams. As a result, the Company is well positioned to perform in a very difficult environment, and our Board has approved our plan to sustain the GE dividend through 2009," Immelt said.

Despite the positive spin, the results were pretty dreadful. Profit from continuing operations fell 12 percent to $4.48 billion, or 45 cents a share, from $5.11 billion, or 50 cents. Many businesses including Global Finance fell by double-digit percentage points. Cash flow from operations plunged 18 percent during the first nine months of the year.

How sad is it that meeting reduced expectations is seen as great news?

It's time to make some major changes, something I have said before. I am not the first to suggest this and I am quite sure I will not be the last. General Electric (NYSE: GE) needs to take some serious action to add shareholder value. Apparently, Jeffrey Immelt was very embarrassed after last quarter's earnings announcement, when the company reported disappointing earnings following Immelts' own earlier statement that they would hit their targets.

After GE sells its kitchen and laundry appliances, which is on the block now, it will still own business-producing aircraft engines, locomotives, electric distribution and control equipment, generators and turbines, and medical-imaging equipment. GE is also one of the preeminent financial services companies in the U.S. Commercial finance, consumer finance, and equipment financing and leasing together comprise the company's largest segment. Here is the formal list from the company web site:

• Appliances
• Aviation
• Consumer Electronics
• Electrical Distribution
• Energy
• Finance – Business
• Finance – Consumer
• Health-care
• Lighting
• Media & Entertainment
• Oil & Gas
• Rail
• Security
• Water

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of chatter about General Electric (NYSE: GE) and its NBC Universal asset (here's one example). Specifically, there's been talk about the future of the movie and television business and its role as a productive member of the GE portfolio. There are a lot of pundits out there who would like to see it sold off; probably a lot of investors would like that, too. Thankfully, CEO Jeffrey Immelt isn't one of them; he has consistently and steadfastly denied that NBC Universal will be offered to buyers in the near future. I hope he retains such opinion, because I definitely think GE needs NBC Universal.

Sure, GE needs to sell things from time to time, the latest example being the conglomerate's desire to dump its appliance division (Peter Cohan agreed with this logic and recently wrote a piece about the subject). But it shouldn't get rid of NBC Universal. Ever. Well, maybe there might be some compelling event in the future that would justify a sale, but I really don't see that happening. Why? Because content is valuable, and GE needs to own a piece of it.

We live in exciting times. The media is changing. New distribution paradigms, driven by digital technologies, are forming all the time. Libraries of films and television shows are going to be valuable well into the future. Think about Universal and its film library. The Mummy, Jurassic Park, E.T., The Bourne Ultimatum, Jaws...you get the picture. NBC Universal will be able to monetize all these franchises and many, many more from the library, as well as ones that have yet to be produced, via the new digital economy.

USA Today reports that oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens is placing a $2 billion bet on wind power. Pickens' Mesa Power plans to build the Pampa Wind Project in the Texas Panhandle. It will eventually cover 400,000 acres and generate enough power for more than 1.3 million homes -- making it the largest wind farm in the world.

And Pickens is helping General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) in the bargain. That's because he's buying GE turbine technology. GE is expected to deliver 667, 1.5-megawatt wind turbines in 2010 and 2011. Jeffrey Immelt, GE Chairman and CEO said, "As America's demand for energy escalates, it is clear that wind can and will play a bigger part in meeting that need. We're excited to partner with an energy visionary like T. Boone Pickens to bring our wind technology to the marketplace."

With oil hitting $127 a barrel, I hope this project is the first of many. It will take many different sources of alternative energy to reduce U.S. demand for black gold. Wind power is certainly a good alternative. And if Pickens and GE get richer in the process, that's fine by me.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns GE shares.