AOL Money & Finance

Our tax dollars buy Citi a $50 million French jet

More

I am reaching the limits of my ability to stand more waste of our money. Today, I learned that Citigroup (NYSE: C) is taking delivery of a $50 million corporate jet from French manufacturer, Dassault. (For that kind of money, it could have at least bought from an American manufacturer).

I know the U.S. invested $45 billion worth of taxpayer money with no strings attached -- but is it really possible that Citi does not get that buying a corporate jet with that money is blazingly stupid?

There is some irony on this front. This evening Maria Bartiromo conducted an interview with John Thain who was deposed last week for various sins. Bartiromo was in Davos, but Thain was not -- although one of his sins was that he had accepted an invitation to attend Davos. But back in 2007 -- almost exactly two years ago -- it was Bartiromo who got in some hot water for taking Citi's corporate jet with then Citi-executive Todd Thomson.

I guess after Todd and Maria's trip, it was time for a new jet for Citi. But it's too bad that it took so long to get a new one. And that we taxpayers are footing the bill.

You might have thought that $45 billion was supposed to go for more loans to boost the economy. But at Citi, those are down 3.1%. I don't think a decline in lending was what was intended at all.

It looks like it has yet to sink in with Davos Man that times have changed. And if Citi actually takes delivery of that jet, CEO Vikram Pandit should follow Todd Thomson out the door.

Update. ABC News reports that Obama administration officials called Citi execs about the jet and told them to "fix it." And today Citi says: "We have no intent to take delivery of any new aircraft." I don't know if this means Citi will lease the aircraft instead of buying it. If it backs out of the contract, it may end up paying a penalty fee.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and is the author of You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing. He owns Citi shares.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-17.2410,433.71
NASDAQ-6.832,169.18
S&P 500-0.591,105.65

Last updated: November 25, 2009: 04:12 AM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

DailyFinance Headlines

Latest from BloggingBuyouts

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

    BioHealth Investor Headlines

    WalletPop Headlines

    My Portfolios

    Track your stocks here!

    Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

    BloggingStocks Partners

    More from AOL Money & Finance

    WalletPop Headlines