Auto Execs Hit Turbulence Over Private Jets

Legislators put screws to extra-shiny tin cups

By Jim O'Neill, Newser User

Posted Nov 20, 2008 7:49 AM CST

(Newser) – Take three auto execs, add the private jets each took to a Capitol Hill hearing to beg for a federal bailout, and you get a recipe for the heaping helping of humble pie legislators served up, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. "There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, DC, and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands," said one New York congressman at the disastrous hearing.

Others put the screws to the execs about cutting perks and downsizing hefty salaries—which drew silence from GM CEO Rick Wagoner, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, and Ford CEO Alan Mulally. And as they denied culpability in the industry chaos, and Wagoner dodged pointed questions about GM's financial status, Milbank writes, "it was hard to feel sorry for the executives." And "don't even think about asking them to fly commercial."

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (1)]

General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, and Ford CEO Alan Mulally, listen to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, yesterday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

General Motors Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, yesterday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, from right, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, Ford CEO Alan Mulally, testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Auto industry executives, from left, General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner; Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli; and Ford CEO Alan Mulally, testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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"There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hands. ... I mean, couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something?"
- Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.)

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 3 comments

Guest

Nov 20, 2008 10:51 PM CST

These are the idiots running these companies.Need anyone look further as to why their companies are in trouble.They don't have a clue.

Guest

Nov 19, 2008 11:57 PM CST

I am on SMALL fixed income but I make it and God forbid if I should ask the gov't for help! I hear every excuse in the world. who do these guys think they are? I don't have a private jet to take me to meetings to ask for money or a car either. Judy Lammers

Guest

Nov 19, 2008 8:32 PM CST

They need to be put down to a average worker.

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Chrysler • executive compensation • General Motors • Ford • auto industry • private jet • financial crisis • Dana Milbank • auto bailout

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Auto Execs Hit Turbulence Over Private Jets