GE's problem stems from Jack Welch's "financial engineering" which created the illusion of rapid growth with fake earnings, created with ever increasing levels of debt and lobbying the government to give GE out-sized and unfair tax breaks.
When GE had to be bailed-out by the government after 2008 they couldn't resume their fake earnings game.
With the game exposed for the fraud it was, it's inevitable GE will have to sharply reduce their dividend at some point.
GE has long been liquidating itself with a dividend higher than real earnings, making up the short-fall with debt, but now it's become painfully obvious what's going on - so it can't continue.
We've run out of other people's Social Security taxes needed to subsidize our low income tax rates.