Comments on: Private-jet divas miss their meeting with Obama

By: Gotthardbahn

Gotthardbahn — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:47:53 +0000

Quite aside from the needless sarcasm of this piece, I really take issue with the underlying assumption that because you have been summoned by the mighty Barack Obama, you must move heaven and earth to be there. These guys have banks to run and taxpayer money to pay back. Why should they humour Nobama with a couple of photo-ops so he can burnish his populist, anti-Wall Street credentials? Not surprisingly, Nobama dumped on the banks yesterday. They should have told him to blow it out his ear.

By: jian1312

jian1312 — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:45:08 +0000

I did think it’s rather suspect that some of these all powerful bankers couldn’t make it to a f$eaking meeting with the POTUS! The POTUS!!

But, isn’t it besides the point to be speculating on the nature of the absence? The mere fact of the President saying, essentially, it’s time you guys reciprocate, doesn’t that sound pathetic to you all? Our President, all he could come up with is something along the line of a jettisoned lover, PLEADING, I was there for you when you needed me (and it’s still contested whether all the banks needed TARP money), don’t you think you owe it to me now that I need you?

So we’ve sunken so low, so desperate as to have our President beg business executives, who, mind you, are never known for being nice guys or even having a heart for that matter, to reciprocate a helping hand! Am I being cynical here or is something very very wrong? Where was the President, when deals were negotiated to bail banks out(to be fair, it might be the previous President for TARP, still, Geithner had a number of opportunities to demand a pound of flesh)?

Why did they pay 100 cents on the dollar on the AIG deal? The government would be in a much stronger position to demand reciprocation then, before forking over the $$, than now, after the fact. Anyone with an ounce of brain would know this, a smart guy like Geithner surely knows, but he was too busy to save the world from collapsing (in his own mind at least) to be bothered with trivial stuff like moral hazard. This grudge I’m probably going to hold into my grave. It’s entirely cavalier with taxpayer money and simply unforgivable.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:01:31 +0000

Maybe I am just old-fashioned, but I travel the evening before an important meeting. For eight-figure compensation I would even travel the afternoon before a meeting with a head of state.

By: right

right — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:39:19 +0000

Felix, your second update is very helpful. Perhaps it should prompt a revised naming of this post?

By: Uncle_Billy

Uncle_Billy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:41:28 +0000

Scott, you just don’t understand sophisticated PR. This was a slick way to publicize the names of the bankers and cast them in a positive light (except for Jamie Dimon, who abhors light).

By: megalomaniac

megalomaniac — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:39:32 +0000

Seriously, Felix, I’m normally one of your biggest supporters, but this calls for some sort of a mea culpa on your part, no? It’s a highly irresponsible piece that I’d expect from Matt Taibbi, not from you.

By: Scott7

Scott7 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:09:39 +0000

Seriously, this is the most retarded post ever. The problem with financial journalists is that they’re friggin’ idiots.

By: jdanielwright

jdanielwright — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:43:49 +0000

Come or don’t come, populists like you just like to rant.

By: dWj

dWj — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:26:01 +0000

I hope from now on we’ll require companies on the federal dole to make extensive use of private jets so as not to squander taxpayer resources.

By: Uncle_Billy

Uncle_Billy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:20:52 +0000

John Cook, Esq., of the Manhattan Gawkers, is on the case, getting to the foggy bottom of it all.

http://gawker.com/5426037/wall-st-banker s-snub-obama-duck-dc-sit+down-because-of -inclement-weather

Ubiquitous cams — the greatest bullshit detectors ever.

By: hotel2tango

hotel2tango — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:16:29 +0000

Yeah — my own CEO, hardly a fat cat, had his NYC->DC shuttle flight cancelled this morning and had to call into a meeting. Not a lame excuse — and it’s better to be able to call in to an important meeting from a quiet conference room than from an Acela stuck in Wilmington.

By: Uncle_Billy

Uncle_Billy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:10:09 +0000

Cheatygroup: Business class or first class?

Proposal: Senior Executive bikes, complete with broadband-wifi and cams for conferencing and monitoring purposes, large saddlebags stuffed with cash to get through traffic jams, and a tall, flexible riser topped by an orange flag, emblazoned with their blood type, which can both keep them nicely visible, and help them get prompt,effective medical attention when they get run over.

By: q_is_too_short

q_is_too_short — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:38:12 +0000

Um, there were days last year when I got stuck on the 4/5 train for 30+ minutes as well. Plus no phone/internet connectivity at all from there.

By: DCS

DCS — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:22:15 +0000

Uh, FWIW the FT’s Alphaville column says the three will miss the meeting *because* they were going commercial — not private — and flights were delayed/canceled due to fog @ Reagan Nat’l. ( http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/12/ 14/111611/the-perils-of-flying-commercia l/#comment-960524 )