Citigroup Gets a Well Deserved Spanking
After taking 45 billion in tax payer money Citigroup unveiled their plans to purchase a 50 million dollar luxury jet that seats twelve. Fortunately the Obama Administration stepped in – and what do you know? – bye, bye jet.
ABC News has learned that on Monday officials of the Obama administration called Citigroupabout the company’s new $50 million corporate jet and told execs to “fix it.”
Earlier on Monday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said made it clear ABC News asked him about the jet that the president disapproved of the deal.
“The president said this during the transition, as it related to the auto companies using private jets: [He] doesn’t believe that’s the best use of money at this point,” Gibbs said.
Citigroup’s response after the spanking…
“We have no intent to take delivery of any new aircraft.”
The mindset behind the attempted purchase of this jet sums up what is wrong with big business.
would have never happened under bush, reagan, bush, clinton…ever
Under Bush: Business drives changes in government
Under Obama: Government drives changes in business
Conservatives might prefer the former, but that attitude is what gave us Phil Gramm’s CFMA, which created both the disasterous current recession and the Enron Loophole, and going further back, created the S&L scandal of the late 80’s.
Hot Dawg! I am purely loving having a president!
Wonderful. A president being a bully for all the right reasons! Good move, President O!
But what about the unfortunate private-jet builders? If feckless bankers stop buying private jets, that industry will collapse!
Too bad Obama wasn’t president when Thain at Merrill was handing out $4B in bonuses and remodeling his bathroom. It’s only fair that if car manufacturers are required not to buy jets with their smaller bailout that banks shouldn’t either.
Unfortunately it’s still showing that banks just don’t get it yet. The sooner they face up to the problems facing us, the sooner these problems will get addressed.
Geezer this jet was built in France not the good old USA
Obama has lost his mind. POTUS has no business telling anyone how to run their business.
Anyone who has to encounter commercial aviation would understand the need for private jets.
Remember when Pelosi wanted a B 757 for her use? No liberals spoke up then and a 757 costs much more to buy and operate.
We/Obama most certainly do have a right to speak up. It’s our money! They want to buy that jet, then they can give the 45 billion back.
Did the GOP speak up against Hastert using a jet to ferry him to his home district?
That’s right pandora. We are now shareholders in Citi. We certainly have a say in what they do.
How much you wanna bet that Mike P. and other conservatives are the first ones to critique the contents of a grocery cart of a person on assisted living.
Anyone who has to encounter commercial aviation would understand the need for private jets.
You are forgiving them for using bailout money to acquire a private, corporate jet? Seriously, are you?
Oh, pandora, you are bringing such memories. My wingnut brother worked in a grocery store for a short period of time as a teenager (really short – like 2 months or so). We had some conversation where he said he personally saw a woman buy a whole bunch of steaks with food stamps. (I don’t believe him – there are rules about what you buy, but whatever). I practically made him explode by asking him why he cared and why was it any of his business. Poor people can’t have steaks?
Mike P.,
I’m sure all of us have taken commercial aviation at one time or another. I know I have traveled quite a bit for my job. Let the incompetent corporate executives fly coach, like lots of other business travelers who haven’t wrecked the economy.
I encounter commercial aviation all to frequently and perhaps I can apply for this plane as my own personal bailout?
And as always, Protack Flying Fact Free doesn’t have the story — it was the House Security Chief who ordered the plane for Pelosi, not Pelosi herself.
And as long as these people have a ton of taxpayer money, the POTUS certainly should tell them when they have misused those tax dollars.
Did Mike Protack just say that because commercial flying can (sometimes) be a pain in the ass, that corporate millionaires should be able to have jets and avoid the proletariat?
Jesus Christ that should be filed as the most ridiculous comment of the day. Week? Month? Year?
Protack is just trying to line up his next job.
Interesting that everyone here recognizes that companies getting bail out with waste the money. Then they congratulate Obama for telling them “No.” Don’t you people think everyone else receiving the trillions of bailout bucks will also waste it? Or do you think Obama the Almighty and Omniscient Benevolent Ruler is going to get an itemized statement from every company that receives money to make sure every expenditure is “approved.” Of course he can’t micro-manage everyone who gets bailout bucks. If you are against waste, you should be against giving these companies free tax dollars as a reward for running themselves into the ground.
Remember, Bush increased federal spending in most areas to levels not seen in America. We still ended up in a recession, didn’t we?
I can see ten people typing vigriously!
……is going to get an itemized statement from every company that receives money to make sure every expenditure is “approved.” YES!!!!
“If you are against waste, you should be against giving these companies free tax dollars as a reward for running themselves into the ground.”
It’s not a “REWARD”.
It’s a patriotic group of American trying to fix the problems created by self-absorbed Republicans who RAPED this country.
“How much you wanna bet that Mike P. and other conservatives are the first ones to critique the contents of a grocery cart of a person on assisted living.”
..and they are probbaly also the ones that make sure that personal hygiene items such as toilet paper and tampons aren’t covered by public assistance.
Why shouldn’t the corporate fat asses sit in tight seats like the rest of us?
And what is wrong with an itemized statement? Every non-profit that gets grants has to do it, why shouldn’t the big companies? They should have to account for EVERY PENNY SPENT!
Citi didn’t say they weren’t going to by a used aircraft, just new ones 🙂
And Protack. If Citi grabs some of the TARP money Obama can tell them how to run their business since We taxpayers are now majority owners of Citi (I want my stock certificates)
One more thing: At least Obama HAS A MIND!! (Unlike the last holder of the office)
And another thing. I thought this headline would come with a cool picture. DL, you’re falling down on the job 🙂
I love that this move drives Republicans crazy.
(crazier.)
Someone deserves a spanking!
I don’t understand why this drives republicans crazy – okay, I do, but bear with me! Isn’t this accountability?
And as far as “other companies wasting the money.” I think the tone has been set. The days of hand-wringing and saying there ought to be a law while doing nothing are over. Calling out Citigroup publicly will act as a deterrent for most companies.
Pandora, I think that the way to get Rs to care about this abuse of tax dollars is to tell them that the plane came with Employee Card Check — imported from France, no less!
LOL!
I love it when you talk like that, Pandora.
I am not lying when I say, if mike protack disappeared, Delaware would be better off
Mike P if you don’t want the government butting into you business. Then all Citi had to do was not get on the government dole.
Thanx TT That’s the bottom line. If you want to get the Fed money, you need to pay the price. Kind of like when I borrow money from my parents 🙂 There’s a price for everything
Citi was WRONG. Plain and simple. They need to sell their entire fleet pronto.
ANY excecutive of a company that receives bailout money should be FORCED to either drive or fly commercial CEOs or Chairmans can fly first class (security reasons). The rest will need to fly economy.
I am slowly becoming a proponent of mass boycott of unsecured loans…paying them, that is. Credit will suck, yes, but if those fuck wads continue to squander OUR (taxpayer) bailout money, then fuck ’em. Bad debt is what it was covering to begin with. Force them to cover it. Fucking twits.
TT: I am told that Citbank didn’t need the money. They had plenty but when it was offered for free (no plan to pay it back), why would they turn it down. This was the last big Bush free giveway to corporate amerikka to make sure there was not a dime for the people…no health care, no jobs…Herbert Hoover styled thinking. Recall it was Herbert to taxed the apple sellers, because he claimed they were making big money. The repukes are filling up the stimulus package with more tax cuts for the wealthy instead of creating jobs and putting people to work so they could spend the money and help the economy. The corporate plan is to make sure the american worker will work for the least amount of money, bidding down a fellow worker until $6. a hour will be considered living high on the hog. Better start researching the barter system quick.
Actually, Citi did need it. They are financially horrible stewards of anything fiscal. That’s why when they attempted to buy Wachovia, it was a massive joke. They had no business in that attempt. Then they attempted to sue Wells Fargo for tens of billions in damages when they came in and scooped up Wachovia. Note that WF did it without the government, but Citi needed the government to close the deal…and then Citi wanted to sue WF. They SUCK!
The largesse of the “corporate lifestyle” has become an entitlement to some of these folks. The bailout was viewed by many of these companies as fuel to maintain that lifestyle or give them that happy glow that comes with having a few extra dollars in your pocket. You instantly start thinking about where and when you can spend that money, usually on things that you don’t need.
In the same breath, our Congress and former person wearing the office of President like a mantle from God utterly betrayed us. Some of you have said, “We should have a say in what they do with the funds!” Well, maybe we SHOULD but we intentionaly do not. This was a giveaway. While we ostensibly hold the majority of stock in some of the largest companies in the world, those “shares” are as worthless as the air they are printed on. They have no voting power.
We can only sit idly by and watch and hope that we can catch stuff like this that will embarrass these folks. The problem is they are terribly hard to embarrass. Because they STILL think they deserve it.