

President Obama launched a new economic advisory council focused on job creation and competitiveness and named General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt as its head.Now liberal groups are calling on him to quit the post. (Yuriko Nakao/REUTERS)

“One of the chief ways GE avoids paying taxes is by shifting a large portion of its profits overseas,and jobs follow. Now GE’s CEO is the person charged with helping the President create jobs here in America. That’s just perverse, “ the groups MoveOn.org and Progressives United told supporters in an e-mail message.

President Obama tapped Immelt to head the council in January. A story in the New York Times on Friday reported that General Electric avoids U.S. tax liability through a complicated series of financial moves.