“I wish I could get a systemlike that that would pay me when we were doing so badly.” Immelt was awarded total compensation last year worth $14.1million, down 28 percent, according to a filing with the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission. GE officials said 43.1 percent of shareholders had voted infavor of a shareholder proposal to give shareholders a vote onexecutive pay, more than the 38 percent who had voted for thatresolution last year Four shareholder resolutions on the ballotwere voted down. GE last week reported a 36 percent drop in profit, draggeddown by the finance business and by its NBC Universal mediabusiness, which is based in Orlando. Also this year, GE has been stripped of its top-tier “AAA”credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. ‘POINT OF PERIL’ Another shareholder, Richard Wills of York, Pennsylvania,criticized the level of pay for all of GE’s top officials “This company has reached a point of peril,” Wills said “Wecannot afford you folks anymore. And even if we could, we can buyyour level of incompetence for a hell of a lot less.” Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin said GE is dissatisfiedwith its stock performance.

“The concerns about GE Capital have certainly been weighing onour stock. We’re up off the lows of March, which we feel goodabout,” Sherin said. “At the end of the day the stock performancein 2008 and 2009 is disappointing to all of us, but it’s not likeit’s an isolated event.” GE shares in March fell to $5.87, their lowest since 1991. OnWednesday they were up 3 percent to $12.07 on the New York StockExchange. Shareholders also faced a proposal for the board to commissionan independent study into whether the conglomerate should bebroken up GE officials said 5.4 percent of shareholders voted infavor. “Long-term GE shareowners during the present decade have faredbadly,” said John Hepburn, an investor from New Zealand, whosubmitted that proposal. “It has become very evident in recentyears that GE suffers from a holding company diversificationdiscount in which the market value of the conglomerate is lowerthan the value of the parts individually.” (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Maureen Bavdek, Tim Dobbynand Gunna Dickson) Stocks Bonds Media.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A worker recently laid off by a U.S. financial services company grew so upset that the firm had him followed to be sure he didn’t strike out violently at his former co-workers or bosses. U.S.  |  Lifestyle”Tough times will cause people to do crazy things,” said Kenneth Springer, whose company Corporate Resolutions Inc did the surveillance. “Even in down economic times, I’m doing more training now than I’ve done in years.”"A LONG STREAK OF PROBLEMS”Workplace violence can range from harassment and intimidation to violence and homicides, experts say.While economic stress can make some people violent, it won’t turn just anyone into a killer, said Laurence Miller, author of “From Difficult to Disturbed: Understanding and Managing Dysfunctional Employees.”"People shouldn’t be sitting around wondering if someone they’ve been working with for years who has been a regular guy and no real problem is going to suddenly snap and go ballistic on them,” he said. “It’s usually somebody that’s had a long streak of problems.”Moreover, people prone to violence tend to reveal their intentions, experts say.”People aren’t mushrooms sitting in a dark closet by themselves and all of a sudden one day explode,” Cawood said. “If you listen and observe what they’re actually doing and saying, they’re communicating.”STATISTICS WILL TAKE YEARS TO ANALYZEStatistics on workplace violence in this recession will take years to compile and analyze, experts say.

From 1997 to 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, there were more than 7,000 occupational homicides nationwide, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.While most involved robberies, more than 1,000 involved work associates, the government agency said.Whether or not the numbers will show a spike in economic-related violence, the fear is valid and significant, said Joel Shults, head of public safety at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado and an expert in safety awareness.Elevating the fear is the fact that so many perpetrators in recent workplace shootings seemed normal, he said.”It makes it hard to tell ourselves that we’re safe because they seem like such ordinary people in such ordinary circumstances,” Shults said. “It’s hard for us to tell ourselves, no, that’s not going to happen us.”Ironically, he added, a heightened sense of fear can make matters worse. “That might potentially actually increase the number of people snapping. It’s one more thing to worry about,” he said.(Editing by Michelle Nichols) U.S. Lifestyle.

VERNON, CT, Apr 22 (MARKET WIRE) — TicketNetwork , the leading source for live event ticket inventory,announced today that it has proactively attained the elite PA-DSS(Payment Applications Data Security Standard) status, elevating itsprotection standards for credit card processing and consumer datastorage. This company milestone follows its previously achieved PaymentCard Industry (PCI) compliance status in late 2008.Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, consists of anoverarching review of a company’s technology, infrastructure, datamovement, and its business processes. The PCI standard sets operationsrequirements in areas such as security management, policies, procedures,network architecture, software design, and other critical protectivemeasures. In addition to successfully passing this comprehensivetechnology assessment, TicketNetwork also attained PA-DSS compliance, amore exacting set of requirement focused on software standards forpayment applications.