Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets To Plead For Public Funds

ABC News:

The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation's capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy.
Even as their companies fail, Ford and GM CEOs continue lavish lifestyles.

The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler may have told Congress that they will likely go out of business without a bailout yet that has not stopped them from traveling in style, not even First Class is good enough.

All three CEOs - Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler - exercised their perks Tuesday by flying in corporate jets to DC. Wagoner flew in GM's $36 million luxury aircraft to tell members of Congress that the company is burning through cash, asking for $10-12 billion for GM alone.

Read the whole story: ABC News

Comments

[sklfcats]

I WANT MY TAX DOLLARS RETURNED

[kappa08]

put the mailboy in charge...r­aise your hand if you think you can do a better job than these pasty over educated white men.

[schatsie]

The headline made me wonder what would be the reaction if Queen Elizabeth came for a handout?

Of course the tourist industry has hit them all hard and she might have to let some staff go...

I guess this makes me think that we should get FINANCIAL STATEMENTS From this Masters of the UNIVERSE before giving them a dime...Of course if they want to resign, then we still need to follow Gordon Browns fiscally conservative example...­NO MORE MONEY FOR THE CORPORATE QUEENS of WELFARE... And audit the taxes for anyone in management who is benefitting from the bailout.

[MarkKienan]

These guys remind me of the french royalty and aristocracy at the time of the french revolution.

[Erdgeist]

If the corporate jets are American made -- quit your bitching. By the way, if everything we wore, drove and flew -- every part, nut and screw -- were made in America, we wouldn't be in this recession.

[rubicon101]

ohhh...pri­vate jet planes. This just goes to show how inept we've become. What does the president of a major company flying to Washington DC in a private jet have to do with anything?!
Who cares..thi­s is not what is needed to resolve the crisis we are in. I could care less about private jets. It is what people in significant positions do and well they should.
We need to get off of this pettiness and get down to the crux of what is needed.
GM in particular is in a position to completely turn around the industry by retooling with alternative energy cars and the politicians need to start figuring out the infrastructure that will support these vehicles. Instead of talking about corporate jets.

[justdoodling]

So why do these guys deserve their $24 million dollar salaries huh? I wouldn't get paid or get to keep my job if I couldn't DO my job by getting work done every day and planning for the next day and the next week, month....W­TF?

[FDRJFKLBJ]

This is news? You're complaining about them flying jets?

Flying a jet is nothing for GM when it's burning $1,000,000,000 every month, or over $12,000,000,000 every year.

Get real, people.

[karma namdak]

Oh, who cares how they got there! Big deal!

[BowlingForRevenge]

Oh about 60 years ago the tire makers conspired with the automakers to render cheap accessible public transportation ie: trolleys useless.
They tire companies bought up the trolley companies and slowly shut them down while Detroit made buses and Firestone/BF Goodrich etc put tires on them.
This is systematically what the oil companies did with the automakers. The lobbiests fought tooth and nail any thing that might allow Detroit to make vehicles with the best MPG.

Every industry will attempt to kill an industry that threatens their success or survival.

Detroit apparently has been used by the rubber companies (synthetic rubber is a petroleum product) and the oil companies. So basically BIG OIL has been undermining the US economy for quite sometime.
What will BIG OIL do if Detroit shuts down?

BIG OIL needs to bail out DETROIT not the American taxpayers.

[pavroviandog]

BRAVO!!!!! Great comment and suggestion.

[FDRJFKLBJ]

You weren't complaining when oil was $16 per barrel and gas was 98 cents per gallon. I bet you were driving a Tonka truck like everyone else. Stop acting so high and mighty, and stop blaming oil companies.

[BowlingForRevenge]

The only Detroit (actually made in St Louis MO and shipped to Kalamazoo MI for conversion) vehicle I've bought in the last 35 years has been a Dodge mini van ONLY because it was the ONLY option in 1999 for handicap vans and with just under 50K miles it will remain in use untill it becomes unusable. $55K handicap vans aren't as easily financed as other vehicles.
My families vehicle purchases have been in order '76 TOYOTA (had it 11 years),'85 SUBARU (had it 14 years),'05 NISSAN & '07 HONDA with the Nissan and Honda parked in the driveway with the Dodge handicap van....we don't use the van unless the handicap person is in it.
I lived through the long lines at filling stations in the 70's and the roller coaster ride of gas prices through the 70's,80's and 90's...the 00's have been no different folks just have selective memories.
By the way my car choices has NOTHING to do with BIG OILS manipulation of our economy.

[knowhelpnow]

How fitting for them to beg for our money. How much did it cost each company to fly their stupid butts for this begout? They have no idea what is going on they just want their share. They are in the same position as before way out of step on the economy.
We as a country should put at least a $1.00 tax on gas so we get moving on alternative energy. I already see since gas prices went down more people speeding and breaking on the interstate, these people have no idea this is not going to last. We need to tax the gas like the Europeans do and we can use the money for fixing the infacstructure, renewable energy, so many things. People need to know we will continue this until we start to see into the future. We could give tax credits for the poor and middle income people or as Alaska does give them an energy check, so the poor will not be the ones who are hurt the most by this but we do need to do this just for our future.

[TheSecularist]

This is nothing new. In the mid 70s the CEOs of the big three (it may have been big four at that time) all flew over to Japan (who was kicking American butts) to demand that Japanese markets be opened to American cars. They flew over in private jets with huge salaries to make demands of a country whose executives did not fly around in private jets and did not have multimillion dollar salaries. Then as now, they didn't see the irony of that. Here we are nearly 35 years later and American automakers still fly around in their private jets with their huge salaries and their hats in their hands, begging.

[newworldman777]

If these Auto maker CEOs are willing to fly their own jets to a meeting in Washington, spewing who knows how much pollution into the upper atmosphere, then I am sure that they could not care less about producing automobiles that would be eco-friendly. They obviously have no passion or consideration for the environment. Everything is about them -- to hell with the earth, with future generations.

Those CEOs epitomize what is wrong with this country: capitalism gone haywire. Money trumps good sense, common sense, and compassion for fellow beings. How many times throughout the troubled history of America have we seen people sell out other humans, other races...ju­st plain sell their souls to the devil...in order to line their own pockets with money? One need look no further than the history of Hollywood to see the same type of selfish idiocy. Truly dispicable behavior.

And why, pray tell, are these arses still the CEOs of their respective companies? I mean, why were they not gone yesterday -- literally?

[killpack]

Here's a better question. Why are we even CONSIDERING a bailout package for these guys with TAXPAYER money?

[MossyOak]

Congress is just putting on a show for our benefit, making the CEO's squirm a little before forking over our money. I'm sure all the pain they suffer will quickly fade once they're back on their jets sipping cocktails.

[killpack]

So true. When the cameras are turned off and the grilling is over they all hop on the jets and go party together.

[lesterbud]

If they wanted to send the right message to congress and the American people, all three would have piled into a Chevy Volt prototype and driven their pasty-white buts to D.C.
While this charade is going on, the folks on Foxcist news are running story after story about how the United Auto Workers union is the cause of all of the problems in the industry by demanding such things as health care, pension benefits and job safety. Those three jets, the fuel they use and the crew they require would have paid the health care premiums for over 25,000 retirees. That means they put the well being of more than 25,000 of their own workers below their own creature comforts.
This is why we are in the mess we are in. I do not begrudge anyone rewards for their success, that is the American way, but obscene excesses, especially in tough times, should result in immediate dismissal. We need LEADERS, not executives, and if they don't know the difference they don't deserve their positions.

[killpack]

Which is why I will NEVER vote to bail them out with my tax dollars. NEVER. As if we needed more evidence that it is a poorly run business. I've already written my Congressmen, and I'm going to keep writing.