After recently being financially rescued by a bailout funded by taxpayers' money, Citigroup Inc. planned to purchase a $50 million jet.According to CNN, the bank company planned to go through with the purchase as late as Monday. However, criticism from government officials has halted the purchase. Michigan Senator Carl Levin has been quoted as saying: "To permit Citigroup to purchase a plush plane- foreign-built no less- while domestic auto companies are being required to sell off their jets is a ridiculous double standard."
Citigroup, which has reportedly received $45 billion from the government in bailout funds, argued that the new plane would have cut their costs. They also protested that they planned to finance the jet purchase by selling off their older jets, and that cancelling their intended purchase will force them to pay millions of dollars in penalties.
[SIDEBAR: Is this bailout going to be the epic fail of the 21st century? Putting an influx of cash into the same "executive" hands that sunk U.S. corporations is the first place cannot be a good idea.
Also, quick question: Why didn't Citigroup finance part of their own bailout by selling off their corporate jets? The taxpayers need their money!
If power doesn't change hands in the corporate and political world soon, there's going to be no saving this proverbial titanic.]
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