Ex-GE CEO: The President Has Become Too Powerful

The office of the president of the United States has grown too powerful relative to congress, or so says former General Electric CEO Jack Welch.

"That's been happening for a long time and it's accelerated this time" under President Barack Obama, the former CEO said Friday during an interview on CNBC.

"Law in enforced by regulation. He changed the employer mandate. He put Congress in. He did a whole series of things," he said, referring to Obamacare, the president's signature health care law.

He added that by not trying to understand where each other is coming from Democrats and Republicans have both failed “Negotiations 101."

"Both sides went down the wrong path. The Republicans take on the president's signature [health-care] bill and they say, 'Defund it.' By definition, that's not sitting across the table," he said, adding that the GOP is simply terrible at marketing its ideas.

"I wouldn't let Republicans market an iPad when it came out," he said. "They can't market anything."

He added: "Then the president says, 'I will not negotiate.' That's not a position I can accept either."

He reiterated his point that the office of the president has accumulated more power than the other branches of government.

"[The president] can arbitrarily legislate around Congress on clean air," he said.

The overreach, he added, "started early in the Bush administration [and] a bit in the Clinton administration."

Welch made headlines last year when he seemingly questioned the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ September 2012 jobs report.

"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers" he tweeted.

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Featured image CNBC.

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