Auto CEOs Flew Private Jets To Washington To Ask For Your Tax Money
ABCNews says that the big three auto CEOs "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."
Just because your company is on the verge of bankruptcy-- well, that's no reason not to arrive in style. Right?
From ABC:
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.
"We want to continue the vital role we've played for Americans for the past 100 years, but we can't do it alone," Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee.
While Wagoner testified, his G4 private jet was parked at Dulles airport. It is one of eight luxury jets in the GM fleet that continues to ferry executives around the world despite the company's dire financial straits.
ABC estimated that the trip cost GM $20,000, as opposed to a first class ticket on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington -- which would have cost about $800.
Amazingly, private jets are a luxury that even free-spending AIG is reconsidering.
AIG, despite the $150 billion bailout, still operates a fleet of corporate jets. The company says it has put two out of its seven jets up for sale and is reviewing the use of others. Though there are no such plans by GM or Ford.
Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for Public Funds [ABC]
(Photo: Bonita Sarita )
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Comments:
Come on, you didn't really think these people were going to get some real sense of practicality and fly a commercial airline, right? No wonder these companies are losing money, and are in debt. When push comes to shove, they won't even quit flying luxury planes. It's like driving up to Salvation Army in a Bentley to scour the racks for a $1.50 pair of pants.
Wow, just...wow
I think it's kind of sensationalism to state the price of the jet itself. It's not like they just bought this jet. This is a jet that they have had. Also, as for the price of a commercial ticket, when would that ticket have to be purchased? I have read many a story here about how booking a flight on short notice costs a HUGE sum of money. How much notice did they have to appear? I can see how this is a LITTLE excessive, but I think some more journalism on ABC's part and less flash could have made the original story more newspaper worthy, and less tabloid worthy.
I really doubt that flying private jets is causing GM to lose money. It may have to do with producing inferior products. That, and consumers can't get loans to buy said products anyway.
Let's pretend for a second that the CEOs are paid an hourly wage. Would the time saved by flying on a private jet * the CEO's adjusted hourly wage cost more or less than the cost of operating the private jet? They should probably just sell the jet, reduce CEO compensation to near 0 and make them fly commercial airlines until their companies are back in black.
You know, they could have at least driven a Prius.
@MeSoHornsby: However if they are so strapped for cash wouldn't it have been wiser to just fly first class on a commercial airline? I mean come on.
The private jet use is an executive perk approved by the comp committees of the board of directors of these companies...It may not be the cost of the jet use that is causing these companies to lose money, but the culture of excessive executive compensation should not be rewarded with taxpayer funds.
There was a thing in the NYTimes the other day about how much money GM has pissed away on sports sponsorship in the past five years. Hundreds and hundreds of millions every year. It's pretty much twice what Toyota has been spending. If I was a shareholder I'd be asking some pretty big questions.
By commuting in a $65m Gulfstream G4 jet, they're doing their wingnut duty to stick it to the unions. So... Win?!
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Couple of things... By using the airlines they are supporting them and helping them stay afloat. As opposed to saying F.U. American Air. I got my own ride.
Isnt that whats happening to them? You want me to buy your car? F.U. Ill take the bus.
Maybe it's time that UAW does some real sole searching. Do we want to make good quality cars at a reasonable price. This may mean a reduction in pay. Or do we want to be without a job. This may mean a huge reduction in pay
Big frigging deal. Time IS money for these guys and they have a hell of a lot better things to be doing than waiting around in an airport for their flight. Sure, they could have flown cheaper but they would have spent a lot more time traveling and been subject to delays (do YOU want to explain to Congress that you missed your flight and were late!).
How is the bailout going to help the long-term prospects of GM at all? They don't make good or reliable cars, so fewer and fewer people buy them. Ford might have a shot at pulling through if the economy rebounds fairly soon because their cars can make it off the lot without breaking down. A bailout will only delay the inevitable for GM. Ford *might* be helped by some short-term loans.
@everfade: True, and it does look bad, but there are far bigger issues to worry about with the big three.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->:
think on this : the cost of the ticket vs the cost of fuel, landing fees, staff wages (pilot, co pilot, cabin staff)....
so. a ticket at short notice is still not worth it?
@sinfuly Delicious: Well, they are helping their pool of pilots out, the air traffic controllers, their ground support crew, the fuel guys at the remote airport, etc.... That's where the cost of these flights comes from, all the personnel that need to be employed to let these planes fly.
No! No! No!
It's the union's fault!
It's the union's fault!!!
Please, listen to meeeeeee...
Union's faaaauuuultttttt!!!
Awwww....!
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: From the article:
Wagoner's private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000 roundtrip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for $288 coach and $837 first class.
Did I mention it's the union's fault?
All these automakers want a bail out, but over time they have moved operations to Mexico and other countries. Why aren't they asking these other countries for help? Why does America have to handle the financial burden?
GM hasn't been competitive because they started designing ugly cars and using 1 body style and just varying the size.
Chrysler is in trouble because they are Chrysler and they kept trying to buy other auto makers.
All of this is the result of poor planning and decisions by the automakers. Unless I'm buying a car from them, the big three shouldn't get any of my money.
Ford is terrible because all they did was build bigger and bigger trucks and constantly re-name their vehicles.
They already own the private plane, and are already paying the pilots a salary (paid whether they fly or not), maintenance, etc. Wouldn't it be reasonable to fly that private plane, instead of buying a bunch of tickets for all the people you're going to take with you?
Multiple people could fly together on the private plane (they brought more than one person) Buying a ticket on Northwest would have been like renting a car to when you already own a car.
If you can fly eight people on a private plane you've already paid for, isn't that probably less expensive than 8 x $800 first class tickets?
/Devil's advocate
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Just an FYI: I just checked with NWA and there is a flight from Detroit to Washington DC. TODAY for $813 first class.
SO...uh... I think you just got "oh snapp'ed".
Now to us, 800 dollars is a 'huge' sum on money, but when you're comparing it to $20,000. Hmm... that's what? $19,187 in savings. That's a lot.
The price of the jet is completely relavent. Is it absolutely necessary for them to buy a private jet to zip ONE person around the country at the cost of thousands of dollars per ride? No.
If they want to, let them. But they are not using MY tax money to do it.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Even if they paid $3000 for the last minute ticket, that's less than it costs to pay a pilot (or two) a flight attendant, buy fuel, and pay landing fees to fly one clueless exec to DC.
@sir_eccles: Have they "pissed" it away? It's advertising. It's why I associate Mike Rowe w/Ford. It works in that I think of Ford when I watch Dirty Jobs, but it doesn't in that I wouldn't own a Ford ever again.
@SarcasticDwarf: Don't forget the cars/drivers they would have to rent, and the hotel rooms/suites they would have to book.
I'm sick of hearing this insane negativity towards CEOs. Of course they are flying privately... they're not going to sit in a damn airport for two hours each way, getting their rectums probed by the TSA!
And quit it with the executive compensation / perks / bonuses / etc isn't fair BS. These people steer the fate of entire industries for christ's sake! Makes your piss ass little job of putting the right cover on your TPS report look petty at best. You go run a multi-billion dollar global company for a week and see if you still feel the same.
It's easy for the drive by media to run BS stories like this and attract public outcry... I agree with the previous commenter that a little more research would have been prudent. But of course then it wouldn't be as attention getting... it might actually be a fair, well written article.
Cheers!
I think it is ironic that we have to bail them out, as a result of our not buying enough of their crappy cars.
While I am pro-buyout, due to the massive domino of lost jobs that will be tipped if one of these companies goes down, it makes me sick. They should get what they deserve, but then we would all be fu
@InfiniTrent: "If you can fly eight people on a private plane you've already paid for, isn't that probably less expensive than 8 x $800 first class tickets?"
No, it's not. RTFA.
8 X $800 (hell, let's just call it a cool thousand for arguments sake) = $8000
ABC estimated that the trip cost GM $20,000
You have to grudgingly admire the arrogance of the Big 3 CEOs to fly to Washington in private jets,be chaufferred to the hill and look into the camera with a straight face and demand AT LEAST 50 billion dollars to save their companies.Especially Bob Nardelli and Rick Wagoner.(CEO's ,for the moment, of Chrysler and GM respectively)
Lets review : Wagoner has collected over $100 million dollars in salary,bonus and options since he started killing GM in the late 90's.When he gets his incompetent hands on your tax money,there is no reason to believe that he won't help himself to even more.
Robert Nardelli has already wrecked one company : Home Depot.He's the dumbass that ordered HD to stock lawn mowers in Arizona where nobody has a grassy yard. To this day, HD employees will tell you that Nardelli destroyed their company and it still has not recovered.
Here's the real insulting part - Nardelli is the sock puppet for Chryslers real owners,Cerberus Capital . These are some of the richest people in America.How do you feel working at your job knowing that the government is taking part of the money that you earned this week to bail these people out ? Like it ?
Only Alan Mulaly at Ford has ever accomplished anything of note. He ran Boeing pretty well and seems to have Ford positioned well with small cars and other new products that people might actually want to buy. He should be ashamed to be up there begging with thse other two losers .
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: The roundtrip flight itself cost $20,000. Way more than the price of even an last-minute ticket.
@crabbyman6: I read that, which is why I asked when the flight they got the price for was booked for.
@idip: I admitted I didn't know what the price difference was for booking on short notice, but was basing my answer on what I have read here regarding people trying to switch flights at the airport, and it costing a phenomenal amount.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Seriously, did you even read the entire consumerist blurb let alone glance at the article? In the blurb it says approximately how much a round trip first class ticket is. The article lists the exact price of that, the exact price of coach AND a flight number.
@crabbyman6: That $20,000 estimate is based on what again?
Also, the price from Detroit to Washington appears to be a one-way ticket...they don't specify round trip.
Keep in mind they brought more than just one person. If they brought the CEO and 9 lackeys (pretty likely), you're talking about 10 x $800 for first class tickets = $8,000, assuming that's a round-trip ticket.
They couldn't have flown in, testified, and left on the same day with a commercial airline. Add in hotel costs to the ticket costs...hotel wouldn't be an issue if you have your own plane.
they should fly coach and squeeze in with the rest of us sardines. They should offer to take pay cuts as well, I don't see any of them offering that either.
There is something to be said about symbolic gestures. It would be geniune show of the seriousness of their concerns, regardless of how much money it really saves.
Wow, I don't know if anyone else noticed this and it ticked them off as bad as it ticks me off. Most people move to be near their job, apparently that's not a problem when you're asking for taxpayer money.
Ford CEO Mulally's corporate jet is a perk included for both he and his wife as part of his employment contract along with a $28 million salary last year. Mulally actually lives in Seattle, not Detroit. The company jet takes him home and back on weekends.
@idip: Is it absolutely necessary for them to buy a private jet to zip ONE person around the country at the cost of thousands of dollars per ride? No.
Don't be absurd. They didn't buy the plane just for this flight. And they didn't fly just one person - they flew an entire group.
@oneliketadow: Wrong. The pilot and crew isn't paid by the flight, they're salaried and are paid whether the plane flies or not.
Think, people.
@everfade: No, since they already own the plane, pay the crew, etc. Their only cost in flying private was the jet fuel. Everything else is already budgeted and paid for.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Its not sensationalism if you consider they could be selling those jets to recoup some of the cash they require for operating costs. The CEOs are so used to being lavished in luxury, that it may be a culture shock, but then again, so would be losing your position and causing the fall of a legacy company thats been around far longer than you have.
As far as booking the flights late, even with all these ridiculous fees they've started gouging us with, it still wouldnt come to 20 grand. If they were in fact on a mission to convince us they need a bailout, they should probably try and show they're helping on their end.
@crabbyman6: YES, I read the entire article. In fact, it's still open in a seperate tab on my browser. It says that, but DOES NOT say when that ticket would be for. Which is why I asked how far in advance that ticket would have to be purchased for THAT amount. I can book a flight three months from now on Priceline for $100. But if I get served with papers telling me to show up tomorrow in Washington, I doubt that ticket will cost me that same $100. I was wondering that based on articles and reports I have seen about how much trying to book a flight on short notice can cost.
F*ck the bailout or loan. They can't even excersize fiscal responsibility when they are in financial trouble. Then they have the gall to ask the public for money.