It's been kind of fun to watch the GE/Honeywell merger attempt.

I don't profess to be a corporate/business/finance expert or anything, but here is my humble understanding of the situation and what I perceive to be a little ironic.

GE wants to merge with Honeywell.

Those guys - among many other things - make airplane parts like jet engines and controls and stuff.

In Europe, the airlines are owned and operated by the government.

The European Union is afraid that if GE and Honeywell merge, the prices of airplanes might go up.

Since the EU doesn't want to pay more for airplanes, it refused to give the GE/Honeywell merger anti-trust clearance.

And my guess is the EU is putting pressure on airplane manufacturers, too.

The EU might suggest to Boeing, for example, that if Boeing doesn't discourage the GE/Honeywell merger, the EU will buy its planes from Airbus.

So then Boeing, not wanting to lose business to Airbus, might go to GE and suggest that if GE merges, Boeing might have to buy engines and controls from Rolls-Royce.

Now I didn't really read any of that anywhere. It's just speculation bouncing around in my simple mind, but I think it's probably pretty close to the way the world works.

The GE/EU thing is pretty volatile, so it could all be different by the time this is published.

But as it stood Thursday, GE was set to make a "concession" to the EU to get approval for their merger.

Here's what was going on Thursday, according to Associated Press:

General Electric Co. has offered to sell a stake in one of its most prized units to win European Union antitrust clearance for its $41 billion purchase of Honeywell International Inc., a source close to the deal said Thursday.

The last-ditch offer would have GE sell a 19.9 percent stake in its aircraft-financing unit, GE Capital Aviation Services, to large financial institutions, but not to the public, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The minority shareholders would appoint one independent director to the GECAS board, the source said.

GE's remaining 80.1 percent would ensure that GE would continue to benefit from the tax grouping of GE and GECAS, the source said.

OK, so it looks like the GE/Honeywell merger might go through after all.

But here's the fun part, again, according to AP:

The deal won conditional clearance in the United States in May, and U.S. politicians up to President Bush have expressed concern about the prospect of it being blocked in Brussels.

That's right, even W is concerned about the EU blocking the deal.

Do you suppose it was upsetting to GE to have W on their side?

Now, W was in Europe earlier this month and I bet GE would have loved for him to be their pitch man to the EU.

You know, "Come on guys, cut my buddies at GE a little slack. Let them merge. They won't gouge too much on those airplane parts."

He may have done just that.

Again, just speculation, but read what AP had to say on June 15:

The $41 billion merger of General Electric Co. and Honeywell International has been all but called off after the companies refused Europe's demands to cut the size of the combined company.

After spending two days in Brussels pitching a divestiture plan that was rejected, GE chairman and chief executive Jack Welch said the companies could not agree to terms laid down by EU regulators.

'In this case, the European regulators' demands exceeded anything I or our European advisers imagined,' Welch said.

... GE said regulators were demanding billions more in divestitures of virtually all of Honeywell's aviation electronics business and its production of generating systems that provide power to planes while they are on the ground.

Welch said his company has 'always said there is a point at which we wouldn't do the deal.'

So how did we get from an all-but-dead deal to an all-but-done deal in a couple weeks?

I don't know. Did W twist some arms in Europe? I don't know. Ordinary folks like me will never know.

Whether W intervened on behalf of GE or not, we can be sure GE certainly wouldn't have deterred him if he did.

So on to the irony.

GE also happens to be the parent company of NBC.

Ever since W took office, people like NBC's Tom Brokaw have been hammering away at him for his shameless promotion of corporate greed.

The GE/Honeywell merger must be the definition of corporate greed.

So we have one part of GE criticizing W for something another part of GE is urging him to do.

But hey, what's a self-respecting liberal journalist who gets his paycheck from a greedy corporate giant to do?

And here's an unrelated little nugget to consider.

It was reported that crude oil prices and regular unleaded gasoline prices reached 14-month lows this week.

W has been president for five or six months.

So for the eight or nine previous months, who in the White House should we be blaming for greasing the palms and lining the pockets of big oil interests? [[In-content Ad]]