I'm sitting just to the left of Scott Malone who covers General Electric for Reuters. This comes from his recent article:

The memory of the sharp downturn following the late 2008 credit crunch is still fresh in their minds.

"Are managements going to retrench as quickly and as deeply in the event of a credit moment in Europe or China as they did last time around?" said Peter Klein, senior portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management in Cleveland, Ohio. "What we want to hear is a dose of reality. What are you planning, what's your contingency, what are you actually seeing?"

This comes as CEOs of many big U.S. companies say orders are holding up, and one of the main risks they see is that customers will start holding off on orders out of fear that something might happen to hurt the economy.

"There is just not enough certainty and in some ways the most important thing we can do right now is social and it has to do with rebuilding confidence," GE CEO Jeff Immelt told a group of executives from mid-sized U.S. companies in Columbus, Ohio last week.

Sitting at the @Reuters #Newsmaker with Chrystia Freeland and
GE's Jeff Immelt. Watch it here: reut.rs

Here are five quick facts about Immelt:

He took over reins at GE in September, 2001.

Immelt has overseen some sizable divestures in his time as CEO, including the 2004 spin-off of Genworth Financial Inc and the 2010 sale of a majority stake in its NBC Universal media business to No. 1 U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp.

With the exception of a brief stint at Procter & Gamble Co between his 1978 graduation from Dartmouth College, Immelt has spent his entire career at GE, primarily at its plastics, appliances and healthcare units.

A lifelong Republican, Immelt has embraced causes backed by Democrats, including expanding GE into renewable energy.

Immelt, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, takes a less confrontational approach than his predecessor, Welch, who kept a relentless focus on costs and earned the nickname "Neutron Jack" for waves of mass layoffs early in his tenure as CEO. Immelt, by contrast, has focused more of his energies on finding new sources of revenue growth.

www.reuters.com

Immelt: Jobs council proposals to Obama sought ideas that didn't
need bipartisan support for new laws

Immelt: “There are jobs that can be created in this document, with
these ideas”

Immelt does not want to blame any one party for unemployment, he says regulations climbed every year under both administrations.

Immelt: "The amount and intensity of regulation is extraordinary"

Chrystia challenging Immelt on regulations, and the real need for some of them, Immelt willing to concede there are some that work, others that don't but he's not being specific.

Immelt: "In the end good regulation is what counts. Just by having
more doesn’t mean it’s better."

"What is your view of Occupy Wall Street?" - Freeland

"It is natural to assume people are angry" - Immelt

Immelt on Occupy Wall Street: "It is natural to assume people are angry...we have to be empathetic and understand"

"Our tax rate this year will be 30%" - Immelt

RT @ErnestScheyder: GE CEO Jeff Immelt tells @cafreeland that his company DOES pay taxes. Says paid $1 bln last year to various US municipalities #Newsmaker $GE

"China is kind of a 25 year story" - Immelt

RT @AnnCensky: Immelt's response: "We would take what was in Simpson-Bowles... I think that’s kind of the right approach" #newsmaker

Russia is a "hard place. It has a lot of challenges," Immelt says. But notes "particularly interesting time" to invest there. $GE #Newsmaker

RT @thomsonreuters: Jeff Immelt discussing China's 25 year story, the growth of Brazil and the future prospects of Russia #Newsmaker

Immelt: "It’s always worthwhile to understand your competitors...for the US today, our competitor is China, so we should study what they do"

Immelt: U.S. is not being as aggressive in expanding exports as Germany. "The rest of the world plays to keep." #newsmaker