UPDATE: Apparently Citigroup has decided that the plane wasn't worth the bad press (not to mention that the President kinda frowned on a bank that is taking taxpayer money treating itself to a new corporate jet). They have decided to forego the plane.
CEO tone-deafness continues. Citigroup, the bank that has taken (so far) $45 billion in taxpayer bailout money, is taking delivery on a new $50 million corporate jet. I demand my money back.
Did these guys learn nothing from the spectacle the Detroit Three CEOs made when they all flew their private corporate jets to Washington and got reamed new ones for it? Do CEOs think they live in an alternate universe? Where do they think this $45 billion is coming from??? It's coming from people who are struggling to pay their mortgages, who are burdened with the reality that they may lose their jobs tomorrow, who have seen the value of their homes drop like a rock. But the guys in the penthouse offices don't get it. Just like John Thain spending an unfathomable $1.2 million to redecorate his office, for crying out loud, Citigroup's head cheeses are tone deaf to reality. How many jobs could they have saved for $50 million? How many bank CEOs dine in private dining rooms with world-class chefs instead of having their admins bring in some deli? I have an idea... before any CEO gets any more taxpayer money to bail his ass out, let's plunk him down in a doublewide somewhere with a 10-year old car and only enough food money to go to McDonald's for a week. Maybe they'll begin to get a clue.
At some point I think these people just completely lose track of reality. Well, Obama needs to give them a dose. How about this -- any bank that has taken or intends to take taxpayer bailout money needs to turn over all the corporate perks, or one of the following two things will happen: 1) the bank will be nationalized, i.e., owned by the taxpayers whose money they are wasting, or 2) be allowed to fail.
Citigroup should get no more taxpayer bailout money. Period. If they fail, c'est la vie. As a taxpayer who flies cattle car class (when I can afford to fly at all) and who brings in PB&J sandwiches instead of eating in that private dining room, I for one am through with these guys who are living large on the struggling middle class taxpayer. Let 'em eat cake.
