As for the blow hard Turk’s comments, even a minimum wage worker will likely cost more than 40k a year due to regulation these days. Also, no matter what system you use to value the CEO’s time, having him fly commercial is just plane stupid (pun intended).

Had you suggested Gardiner Westbound need psych counselling because he is giddy at the prospect of tens or hudreds of thousands of people laying awake at night wondering how they are going to pay their bills, then I would agree. But it seems obvious that you don’t care about them, but only what it will cost you.

And mikey: please stop with the bullshit threats. TTAC, and you, are better than that.

If you get giddy about the failure of these companies, you really need psychological help. Do you really want to pay for the consequences of a greater welfare state to support those injured by the failure? Oh wait, you are Canadian and a lover of the welfare state.

Are you cheering the development of illiquid capital markets also? If so, your views are also shared by Bin Laden and company.

Shame on you, Gardiner! You shouldn’t be giddy, you should just smile quietly like i do. Otherwise, you get a lot of whining, impotent threats and other assorted crap, similar to what we’ve been hearing for decades.
And you can call me QEW Westbound.

A bailout would also be unfair to other companies and their suppliers that profitably make quality cars in Canada and are no less foreign than the Diminishing-3. Nor do politicians mention the excessively rich, inflexible, uncompetitive CAW labor contracts. Honda, Toyota and others employ thousands of Canadians. Their success confirms highly skilled local autoworkers can profitably manufacture desirable, quality cars without CAW excesses, including paying workers not to work. A Chrysler bailout would assist wealthy Cerberus investors at the expense of middle-class nonunion workers and taxpayers. How fair is that?

If any of the 3 companies had a marketing/PR team with engaged brains, they would have run their execs out on rickshaws to Congress if they had to, just to make sure the private jet transport wasn’t part of the media conversation.

More proof of sleepiness (or coma) at the wheel.

And this just reported:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27842195/

Jets? What jets? We don’t have no stinkin’ jets!

Well said!

@ Gardiner Westbound with a name like that I figure your from the GTA.

The failure of the domestics in Ontario will make Michigan look like a booming economy.I mean that with no disrespect to our friends in Michigan.

So this is making you giddy?Dealers, suppliers truckers,food servers,bartenders thousands,and thousands out of work!30,000 on pensions.The backbone of the Ontario economy,the tax base.

This Canada dude who the fuck is gonn’a pay for our oh so pricey social programs?

Gardiner! 2:30 Gate#6 Park rd south at shift change.Bring your import and do your happy dance.

GIDDY?

I agree completely. They should have driven from Detroit to DC in some new 2010 “green” car, or some concept car, to showcase their future offerings. Then they could say “if you give us a hand now, we can produce these later”.

While flying (private or commercial) is quick, driving is the time-honored American tradition their products support.

Hey, maybe they should have “Cannonballed” from Detroit to DC, pitting a Viper against a Corvette and a Mustang. Or something cool like that.

But.

It’s Brian Ross holding the microphone. If Brian Ross told me the sky was blue, I would assume he had rigged that too…

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/is-brian-ross-a-reliable-reporter

Politicos are always first in line at the public trough and often enjoy private jet travel. Some committee members’ facetious, self-serving grandstanding was disgraceful.

No bank or insurance executive has received such despicable treatment notwithstanding many are paid as well as Detroit’s 3-Amigos and enjoy similar obscene perks. AIG had the 24-carat chutzpah to pay out $30-million in bonuses and throw a $440,000 weeklong executive hoedown after grabbing its $85-billion government lifeline. So miffed was Congress about palatial St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort gathering it wrote out another $37.8-billion check to the massive insurance company. That’s almost five times the amount Wagoner, Mulally and Nardelli are begging for!

They travel to Washington in SUV’s, media would have jumped on them for driving gas guzzlers.

They travel in cars, media blasts them for CO2 emissions because they used so many vehicles.

They travel to Washington in Hybrid’s (or Volt), the media would have called them out for putting on a show and trying to greenwash.

As bad as the big 3 have screwed up, everyone is taking out their frustrations of bailing out Wall Street without being able to have had hearings.

Even if you don’t believe that 3 million jobs would be lost, 1 million jobs lost overnight would shake the financial markets so bad the world’s economy would go into depression.

I can see how the jets make sense in certain executive situations (logistics, even cost). However, this was clearly a case of terrible PR management… as was the witless, arrogant, defensive spit in the face we saw during the hearings. The “us against the world” act (Detroit Bubble syndrome) doesn’t hold up when you’re begging for the world’s money. The PR handlers should be canned along with the CEOs.

These people were allegedly on the mission of their lives to ask for free handouts from others, none of whom get multimillion dollar comp packages.

What better way to showcase their plight and their confidence in product than to hop on an Escort or Cobalt and drive 7 hours to the hearings. They are too important to take this time? I thought their concern was 10 billion jobs of poor Americans- surely the great PR covering the ‘drive on Washington’ would have been worth the time investment.

The lack of judgement to me is a firing offense, topping off the lack of ability to run the company on behalf of the shareholders (if there still are any).

I don’t know why the shareholders aren’t demanding their heads.

And I’m sure that the bankers fly the same private jets – again no backlash?

Making as much money for themselves as possible, as always. Their shtick about being Great Americans is just that, a shtick.

Rush and Sean have both been critical of the Big SQRT(8) – in particular management and the unions. I know Rush is against the auto bailout, but I haven’t listened to Hannity in a couple of weeks (work schedule).

Where they always are, bloviating about this and that, and entertaining their audiences. They are not journalists and have never claimed to be. They are, however, unabashed capitalists. (Hint: Rush calls his commercials “profit centers.”) Think what you will about their politics, but they are not violating some sort of journalistic code of ethics.