Road Trip
“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.” via ABCnews
“It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo.” Rep. Gary L. Ackerman of New York via NPR
Totally despicable, right? The CEOs of the Big Three US Automakers have the gall to fly to Washington in their private jets and ask for a $25 billion bailout. No wonder Pelosi sent them home!
But, in fact, it is not necessarily their choice to fly in style. The GM board, like many corporate boards, requires its top executives to fly on private planes for security reasons. Per the president of the National Business Aviation Association, about 11,000 U.S. companies operate jets or powerful prop planes, and more use smaller planes.
In response to the uproar, GM announced the elimination of two of its five corporate jets, though the top executives still plan to use the private jets. And Ford “explored” the sale of its private jets. They should consider NPR’s solution for December 8:
…if they really wanted to touch the purse strings of Congress and the public, they should have driven from Detroit to Washington in a hybrid sub-compact — the three of them taking shifts at the wheel during a nine-hour drive through Toledo, Akron and Pittsburgh, stopping to get out and stretch at all-night doughnut shops, calling in to all-night talk radio shows, as reporters sent iPhone snapshots from along the road. Then the CEOs could step out of their car just in front of the U.S. Capitol, stretch their legs, rub their all-night beard, and say, “Door to door, nine hours, not bad, and on one tank of gas. How ‘bout that!”
Oh, wait. U.S. car companies don’t make a hybrid sub-compact, do they?
