A little bit off-topic, but tons of NE residents have GE appliances in their homes . . .

I just read that that GE has retained Goldman Sachs to handle the sale of their home appliance unit, as they are facing stiff competition from Chinese appliance manufacturers!

Can you believe it? GE has been an icon in American homes for over a century, and they are exiting the business entirely! Published reports said that the appliance division may end up in foreign hands (translation: "sold to the Chinese")

They have a large manufacturing unit in Lexington, Kentucky and it seems to be only a matter of time before more Americans lose their jobs, pensions and benefits to offshore competition. There is no way that a foreign manufacturer would retain expensive US labor when they could use virtual slave labor in China.

GE has an extensive parts and service network, and I'll bet that whoever buys the appliance business will dismantle it. Soon we'll have "disposable" refrigerators, washers and dryers--if something breaks, just go and buy a new one . . .

How long before Whirlpool and Maytag follow suit? This is disgusting.