Posted on 01/27/2009 7:42:38 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Pay the penalty, huh? And if they cancel the jet how does that effect you?
They should immediately put it up for sale.
I thought that the Gulfstream lacked the range to make the coast-to-coast trip unrefueled while carrying the Queen Bee’s entourage? Maybe that was a G-S IV?
I’ll have to Google the whole squabble to see what came of it, I guess.
Of course it's a nice perk too, but flying a lot of executives around with business class commercial tickets can add up in a hurry.
Agreed.
Where's the outrage over that one?
I don't recall what specific model she's got the use of, but I looked it up on the Gulfstream website, and it's got nearly enough range to fly from DC to SF and back unrefueled.
How about - it gives me satisfaction knowing that they aren't planting their fat asses in leather seats on a $50 million jet after having gotten a multi-billion dollar handout for driving their bank into bankruptcy through their stupid decisions. How's that?
At least you are honest that it’s out of pure spite.
Tradecraft by Jonathan Hoenig
Citi’s Plane Isn’t the Problem
Yet another uproar broke this week after it was revealed Citigroup (C: 3.55, -0.35, -8.97%) was set to take delivery of a $50 million private jet, even as the company was burning through $45 billion in taxpayer-funded TARP funds.
More Stori
Under intense public pressure and direct intervention from the Obama administration, the company later canceled the purchase. As usual, pundits decried the excesses and greed on Wall Street.
I’m of the mind that a large multinational bank like Citigroup needs a private jet. They should have a private jet. But taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for it — for any of it.
And that’s the problem here. A company must be run by its shareholders, not public opinion. Yet now that the government has become the unlikely majority shareholder in a host of large Wall Street institutions, it is wielding considerable power as to how those firms are run. Just Wednesday the company disclosed a new regulatory agreement, crafted by the Treasury Department, which will further govern how the company is managed.
In essence, we’ve witnessed a coup: Large corporations are now being micromanaged by political bureaucrats who, unlike shareholders, do not have an ownership interest on the line. The same scenario played out back in October when AIG (AIG: 1.28, -0.01, -0.77%) held its now infamous spa retreat.
Whether it’s CEO pay, a private plane or Super Bowl ad, companies in which the government holds an ownership stake will forever be hounded about every dollar they spend or move they make. Note that this doesn’t happen in private companies, only “publicly owned” ones. We’re now involuntary investors in property in which we can neither use nor dispose of.
The textbook definition of capitalism is an economic system by which the means of producing wealth is privately owned. The only way to fix this is to reverse the trend of further government ownership of the economy. A “free market” owned and controlled by Uncle Sam simply won’t work.
Failing that, government becomes the biggest board member. They will make spending decisions, whether they are capable or not. Those running to government crying for help should be fired, and the business must be liquidated, and the bailout must stop.
It was their business decision to take excessive risk counting implicitly on the government rescue. It was their business model. Now the downside of such a business model has kicked in. Deal with it.
Oprah: “It’s Great To Have A Private Jet”
We can practically hear the cheering in Wichita from here — Oprah Winfrey said in a speech to the graduating class at Duke University on Sunday that “it’s great to have a private jet.” With CEOs across the country shamefaced about corporate excess, and aviation workers paying the price in thousands of lost jobs, could Oprah single-handedly make it OK again to fly? “Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn’t great is lying to you,” she told the grads. “That jet thing is really good.” Whether her enthusiasm will turn the tide and make private jets fun again is still an open question — it could make things even worse.
While The Wall Street Journal’s “Wealth Report” blog found it encouraging —”Perhaps [the private-jet industry] should forget all the boring arguments about jobs and productivity and efficiency and run a picture of Oprah...” — others were less impressed. According to Perez Hilton’s blog, the message was not a positive one: “Lesson to learn, graduates: It’s good to be Oprah and sucks to be everyone else!” The New York Times noted this week that private jets have lost that “feel-good factor.” “In the midst of global economic crisis, “indulgence in what has been consistently branded as the ultimate luxury, feels excessive,” writes Aline Sullivan. Oprah flies a Global Express XRS built by Bombardier, which goes for about $42 million.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/bizav/1375-full.html#200360
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.