Citi Jet Purchase: $50 Million, 12-Seat Plane Despite $45 Billion Bailout

Citi Jet Purchase: $50 Million, 12-Seat Plane Despite $45 Billion Bailout

www.huffingtonpost.com

The New York Post's Jennifer Keil and Chuck Bennett reported in Monday's paper that Citigroup, which has received $45 billion in government bailout funds, is about to upgrade to a new $50 million, twelve-seat corporate jet.

The plane, the Dassault Falcon 7X, is a luxurious jet with a range of 5,950 nautical miles (meaning it can fly from New York to all of Europe and South America, as far east as Riyadh, and as far west as Honolulu or Petropavlovsk, Russia). The Post reports it has "plush interior with leather seats, sofas and a customizable entertainment center."

(visit the link for the full news article)

No doubt the people of the America are proud to see that citigroup are spending their tax dollars in the usual thrifty way that the bankers are known for, i wonder what the next thing they will buy will be? and A380? A cruise ship? or will it just be the usual bonuses all around whilst the tax payers lose their jobs and homes?

www.huffingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

These companies CEO's have got to be the reason why the war on drugs is failing. Despite all the news about how irate Americans are at them for misusing the bailout money, they continue to make idiotic business decisions. Whether it is bailout money or not, when are they going to get it through their thick clouded head that right now is not the time to splurge on anything than the basic necessities. Commonsense has left the building folks.

[edit on 26-1-2009 by jam321]

[edit on 26-1-2009 by jam321]

I remember congress going crazy at the auto manufacturers for flying in jets to Washington. It will be interesting to see if this bank gets grilled in the same way.

I myself am not surprised at all by this. I think it should be obvious to any thinking person here in this country that the American people have been screwed by the very people who were supposed to be protecting our economy.
Did the people of this country get to vote on the bail out? No. It was forced down our throats by our "Representatives".
This country has been usurped from the inside, by our own government.

reply to post by Jacob08

I remember congress going crazy at the auto manufacturers for flying in jets to Washington. It will be interesting to see if this bank gets grilled in the same way.

Congress is the reason most of this is happening. They forgot to cross their "T's" and dot their "I's" when they wrote up and passed that freaking bailout bill.

Outrageous.

I was gonna write a bunch of stuff on why this so wrong at the very core but it makes me so mad I'm not gonna type all of that out.

They are crooks plain and simple, only they are special crooks that our government nurses and cares for. All the while good hard working people are loosing their jobs, houses and everything they have worked hard for.

Rob the poor to feed the rich, our government is playing Robin Hood in reverse.

[edit on 26-1-2009 by Reaper106]

$50 Million dollar jet with them just splitting into 2 entities and with a layoff record we haven't had since the Great Depression.

I honestly want to kill some of these people; I really do, I want to walk up to one and shoot him. I'm sick of this and our representatives...ha!

I'm wondering if we're all going to be stupid enough to re-elect them back into office. I raised my voice about the bailout and didn't vote for either of the Current PA "reps". I wish most of the other people would have done the same, then Casey and Spectre would be looking at other jobs.

It depends in which way they are going to use it. if it is for the big guys on the top for holidays then its wrong is it for a luxary line for coparate leaders from different companies for the talks they need to have to get companies together and get them out of this ..

look I believe and know you have to spend money to earn money and you have to invest .. if there was a lay of of an old bird then its better they get a new one because a claim after an incident / crash with an old plane knowing it was broken or malfunctioning will lead to more money lost..
if every person or the family would claim money after a crash you will have 12 + crew times several milions may be more expansive.

so what is the reason why is it necassery to buy ect that is whats important not blame or speech hatred before knowing this ..

Originally posted by jam321

Congress is the reason most of this is happening. They forgot to cross their "T's" and dot their "I's" when they wrote up and passed that freaking bailout bill.

Off-topic: Did you know that it's even more accurate to say they forgot to 'tittle' their "I"s?

On-topic: Seriously? How much more BS can the American people take before something in our collective head snaps and the rioting starts?

Seems these days all we're waiting for is for someone to throw the first brick...

Really I am not surprised by this. I gave up long ago on either the CEOs or most politicians (I want to say all but surely there are a few good ones) ever doing anything useful for us as a public. They are out for themselves and we are their slaves. We care for their fields while they wallow in the rewards we have shed blood, sweat, and tears for. We are the ones pricking our fingers and crippling our backs while they sit back and laugh as they beat us.

I am very surprised there is not some sort of media about some of these CEOs getting killed. I recall the story about a CEO being punched in the face but, that is little compared to what I would have expected. Maybe society as a whole as not just given up on expecting them to do the right thing but more so given up entirely.

Raist

Not unexpected at all.
The citizens seriously need anti-aircraft missiles!

reply to post by jam321


They are wasting the money to make sure they collapse.

These people are smart enough to know that a purchase like this will draw un needed attention to them usless of course the attention is what they want.

remember to watch the entire show, not just the magicians assistant.

Well, you know, there are solutions to this kind of abuse, but most of you don't want to hear them because they're too "liberal" or "socialist".

Bring back the 91% top marginal income tax rate on the mega-rich. You know, the one Eisenhower, a Republican, supported. They still get to make millions, just anything over a certain point mostly goes back into the nation that made them rich to begin with. Or, they can do what businessmen used to do under that tax system--put their income back into their companies in the form of infrastructure, wages, new hires, etc.

Bring back the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. With a VENGEANCE. Go back to corporations only having a 40-year life-span, and having to submit to regular review by government authorities to ensure they're acting in the public's best interests. Stop companies from getting so big they can hold our entire economy hostage in exchange for bailouts because they're "too big to fail". If a company is too big to fail then Dammit, it's too big to be allowed to exist!!!

Bring back the compartmentalization of companies. No more of this crap where insurance companies start banks and banks issue insurance and coked-up stockbrokers gamble with YOUR MONEY. If it's a bank, it's a bank. It it's an insurer, it's an insurer, and no more of this "everyone does everything for maximum market share" crap.

Start new regulations, with strict enforcement, equalizing the votes of stockholders in a company's decision-making process. I guarantee you if the hundreds who have just a few shares each have just as much say as the one guy with a thousand shares, you won't be seeing a lot of CEOs making $100 Million salaries plus options and "perks" regardless of their actual performance. Right now, these guys make that kind of money whether they succeed or fail--if more people have a stronger stake in the outcome, CEOs will be held to a higher standard of performance and have to start earning their money again instead of spending a few years here, a few years there getting rich while they run companies into the ground.

Note that none of this (except the shareholder voting issue) is anything new. Most of these are regulations and laws we already had in place, and they were dismantled primarily by the Republicans under Reagan. Everything we're seeing right now--the bailouts, the need for bailouts, the cozy relationship Big Business has with the Fed, the unrestricted lobbying, massive military procurement as a form of corporate welfare regardless of actual defense needs--all of this is because we allowed the Party of the Rich to destroy the Middle Class, stagnate and suppress wages, replace wages with credit as a means of maintaining demand for goods and services, cut the hearts out of the Unions, and de-regulate every major industry that our society relies on for its survival and success so a tiny handful of buttholes at the top can do anything they damn well please and screw everyone else.

And through their "think-tanks", media conglomeration, and savvy marketing aimed at fearful idiots they brainwashed the People into thinking it was all the best idea anyone ever had.

I'll bet most of the people on this site still buy into it, and blame either Liberals for all of this, or, in the case of the anarchists and nihilists among us, it's all some "shadowy group" that both parties serve as they prepare to sacrifice America on the altar of the "NWO".

Face it, people--you've been lied to by your Republican heroes, and they're only too happy to retire in maximum style while the rest of us toil until death.

Glad to see that restraint has come over the guys at Citi...

What a bunch of s&*t!! I can hear it already...This purchase was made last year, before the bailout money was even in our hands...blah, blah, blah

I'm sure the the new President will be the first to ask for the bailout money, that is being spent on the jet, back.

But no matter how mad you get , just remember that, we the people, are really in charge of the country.

I've got a bridge for sale if anyone is.....oh, forget it, you get what I mean.

Ah, yes ... Citi ... the corporation that's credit card arm raised the interest rates on all their balance-carrying customers to anywhere from 13.9% to 29.9% ... a jet, you say? How lovely for them ....

reply to post by The Nighthawk


Here's a good idea. Why don't we do something about the government about spending all of my money!?!?! This wouldn't have happened in the first place if they didn't vote for the bailout.

To think that one side is the cause of this is absurd.

BOTH VOTED FOR THE DAMN THING. Oh...and look...we got even more coming. Great!!!

Deficit in the 10's of trillions and this is the kind of garbage i read?

If the government didn't push the banks to make these ridiculous loans the mortgage crisis wouldn't have happened.

GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM.

I can't believe what i see anymore...trillions and trillions in debt and people want more of it.

Oh no, citibank bought a jet. It's BS. But no where near the BS of the money wasted by our government every year.

Edit to add: The US deficit increases by 2.43 BILLION A DAY.

[edit on 26-1-2009 by David9176]

Anyone even bother to read the full article?

The Post also reports that Citi executives are "quietly trying to unload two of their older Dassault 930EXs," worth approximately $27 million each.

If they sell these 2 jets they will have $54 million more than enough to buy a new jet.