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In “Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for Public Funds“, journalists, Brian Ross and Joseph Rhee, writing for ABC News, describe a scenario wherein Rick Wagoner, Alan Mulally, and Robert Nardelli,  the chief executive officers of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler respectively,  flew to Washington DC to plead with the government to help rescue their companies which are near the point of collapse due to running out of money. The auto companies apparently need $25 billion dollars worth of taxpayer dollars to help them avoid bankruptcy. The only problem as Ross and Rhee saw it was that each desperate beggar arrived in DC in a private jet. At least one of the jets has been described as a “$36 million dollar luxury aircraft”.

It seems like a blatant slap in the face to taxpayers for these bigwigs to cry about the money their companies are losing while the individuals running the companies continue to live in the lap of luxury. With the billions of dollars the government will be giving them coming from taxes paid by citizens who can barely afford to fly coach, one would think the executives would try to back up their claims that it’s the livelihood of the tens of thousands of people who will be losing jobs that they care most about by trading in their multi-million dollar jets and multi-million dollar homes and putting that money back into the companies. At least we’d see evidence that they really give a damn and then maybe we can look the other way while the government bails them out.

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