The jet is insignificant. It means nothing compared to the bigger picture of the private sector selling and the Socialists in the Democratic Party buying their souls. They aim to rule our lives in even the most minute detail.

The class envy, the divide and conquer; a page from Saul Alinsky’s book. We’re screwed because we’re falling for it.

I sort of feel sorry for them. After all, Obama got his jet, why can’t they get theirs?

Exit question: How long before they have a change of heart on the jet? Over/under is a week.

Give me the under.

by Deb Cupples | The New York Post tells us that the people running Citigroup are planning to spend 50 million shareholder-dollars on a luxury jet (Dassault Falcon 7x) that seats 12. Yes, that’s the same Citigroup that has received about 50 billion ta…

Exit question: How long before they have a change of heart on the jet?

Not long ago Rush Limbaugh pointed out that there’s a long waiting list for these types of “corporate” private jets. He’s convinced that anyone committed to buying these yets could easily turn around and resell it before its even delivered to anyone way down on the waiting list, and at a tidy profit.

Someone call Citi! They might actually be able to bail themselves out a bit by their own initiative!

I really don’t understand what the fuck the government is doing.

Citi orders a new jet? Fine.

They pay for it with our money? Fine.

They still owe us that fucking money, so it’s our jet.

What would Citi do if somebody couldn’t pay the loan on a jet? They would repossess it. BANK OWNED. That’s how they get their money back.

I have absolutely no understanding why the Government doesn’t apply the same fucking rules to Citi as Citi does to everyone else. Take the fucking jet and sell it to the highest bidder and put our money back in the fucking pot. And keep doing that with every building and fancy furnishing Citi has until they pay back their god damned loan.

What, is it fucking brain surgery?

Summer on January 26, 2009 at 6:51 PM

yeah

iamse7en on January 26, 2009 at 6:54 PM

Bullshit. It’s our money, so it’s our business.

If Citi loaned you money to build a house, and you take that money and use it some other way, you sure as fuck would be hearing from them.

So why are they any different? They’re not. They’re just a damned borrower and we should treat them as such.

Citi orders a new jet? Fine.

They pay for it with our money? Fine.

They still owe us that fucking money, so it’s our jet.

What would Citi do if somebody couldn’t pay the loan on a jet? They would repossess it. BANK OWNED. That’s how they get their money back.

I have absolutely no understanding why the Government doesn’t apply the same fucking rules to Citi as Citi does to everyone else. Take the fucking jet and sell it to the highest bidder and put our money back in the fucking pot. And keep doing that with every building and fancy furnishing Citi has until they pay back their god damned loan.

What, is it fucking brain surgery?

I see your point, but I still find this a little hilarious.

Esthier on January 26, 2009 at 5:42 PM

Yes, management looks inept. Though, after loosing a quarter trillion in market cap maybe the good ship ridiculous has already sailed with the Citi management, principally Sandy Weill, all aboard.

It is in Citi’s best interest to not put the government in a position where additional aid comes with harsh conditionss that wipe out the shareholders.

dedalus on January 26, 2009 at 5:29 PM

Assuming they’re not in bed with enough politicians that they have no legitimate fear of political backlash.

The government had to step in, if only to let them fail later in a more orderly fashion.

I see your point, but I still find this a little hilarious.

Or maybe letting them sell their jets or fail would have. I’m finding it hard to care.

Esthier on January 26, 2009 at 5:17 PM

Letting Citi fail back in November would likely have led to large systemic problems in the financial markets. The government had to step in, if only to let them fail later in a more orderly fashion. Once Citi is relying on government money–I think $45B at this point–they have to realize that politics matter, especially since Citi will likely need more help. It is in Citi’s best interest to not put the government in a position where additional aid comes with harsh conditionss that wipe out the shareholders.

Nah, too dumb to succeed.

Ordering in some pizzas and working weekends in the office with their risk management team would have been better.

dedalus on January 26, 2009 at 4:40 PM

Or maybe letting them sell their jets or fail would have. I’m finding it hard to care.

Multi-million dollar deals don’t get made when you’re sitting in airport security, so if your company wants to spend $15,000 per flight to make sure they can seal the deal that makes $30 Million, there really isn’t much of a decision.
Medicated on January 26, 2009 at 4:26 PM

The problem has been that the faster the Citi guys worked the more money they lost. They didn’t understand the deals or the products involved. Ordering in some pizzas and working weekends in the office with their risk management team would have been better.

Not only that, stop whining about jets. It’s no different than a marketing budget. Multi-million dollar deals don’t get made when you’re sitting in airport security, so if your company wants to spend $15,000 per flight to make sure they can seal the deal that makes $30 Million, there really isn’t much of a decision. How many of you that travel for business have to schedule “travel days?” Chartered jet service means you have five days in a work week when the competition might only have three. When that business decision affects hundreds of thousands of employees, securing their jobs, securing their futures, you bet you rear end I want my CEO to make that deal before our competition gets a chance. I fly upwards of six times a week, and I spend more time getting to the airports and getting on the plane than I do in the air. Two days of every work week are wasted on traveling, and time is money. Losing two days of business for a Fortune 500 company costs a great deal more than what it costs to charter a jet across the globe ten times over. A luxury to you, a necessity for others. This is not that foreign a concept for the average joe to grasp. The environmentalists would have me walk or bike to work, but instead, I drive, save two hours a day, and after four days, the time saved is the equivalent of another 8 hour day of work.

By all means, the tax payer benefits if Citi goes ahead with the order, puts no hours on the plane, then later divests it, rather than throwing away millions and cancelling, perhaps even sending the manufacturer of that plane into bankruptcy.

Medicated on January 26, 2009 at 4:05 PM

So? What does that have to do with why they’ve received taxpayer money?

Taxpayers would also benefit if I spent that kind of money on a private jet. Does that mean I deserve a bailout?

This is going to be the Jet To Nowhere…

redfoxbluestate on January 26, 2009 at 4:02 PM

Yeah, they should have killed the order or delayed delivery. They must be tone-deaf from a PR standpoint. Or maybe Pandit figures he needs a high-speed escape available when he’s eventually chased through the streets by a mob of angry shareholders.

Bernie Madoff’s investors may wind up with more value than Citi’s investors.

We’re screwed every day. Each day it’s just a different boyfriend.

I continue makiing payments on the vehicle, and if I don’t want it, I’ll find a way to divest the asset at a fair market value before it depreciates.

The deposit on a jet is not small potatoes. It’s undoubtedly far more than the jet could possibly depreciate with a year of ownership. By all means, the tax payer benefits if Citi goes ahead with the order, puts no hours on the plane, then later divests it, rather than throwing away millions and cancelling, perhaps even sending the manufacturer of that plane into bankruptcy. It’s not their fault citi is run by a bunch of nitwits,. why should they not be entitles to the same guarantee on citi’s liabilities as anyone else?

If anyone wants to whine, tell it to the folks that stood in the way of bankruptcy.

The Citi guys? Maybe they can use their jet to scare up some more sovereign wealth fund money, though I doubt they’ll get any more from Prince Alaweed.

This is going to be the Jet To Nowhere…

I don’t mind CEOs flying around in corporate jets–for safety, for convenience and for the better use of their time than the way the rest of us have to travel. But this is nothing short of an insult to taxpayers. Makes John Thain’s $1.2M office reno look like chump change.

redfoxbluestate on January 26, 2009 at 3:41 PM

Thain probably deserved 10x what he was paid by the Merrill shareholders. If Merrill had stuck with Stan O’Neal their shares would have been worth $0, rather than the $11 that Thain sold the company for.

The Citi guys? Maybe they can use their jet to scare up some more sovereign wealth fund money, though I doubt they’ll get any more from Prince Alaweed.