In case you didn’t catch the Saturday Night Live Spoof of the Senate Hearings on the bailout of the Big Three US Automakers.
In case you haven’t been keeping up with the Big 3 Automakers request for $25 billion in Bail Out you should probably read these post:
As we head into the holiday season it is welcome news to see gas prices falling. Lower gas prices should help lower the burden on US families and make better for the retail and mall industry. According to a CNN article the lower gas prices may be nearing its end.
Gas prices slip below $2 nationally
- Average price in U.S. is below $2 for first time since March 2005, survey says
- All-time high average — $4.11 — was set four months ago
- Average price dropped 33 cents in the past two weeks
- Survey: Diesel prices are under $3 for the first time since September 2007
(CNN) — Gas prices dropped nearly 33 cents in the past two weeks, dipping below $2 for the first time since March 2005, a national survey said Sunday.
This station in Rio Vista, California, had gas prices below $2 on November 19. [pic to left]
The average price of self-serve, unleaded gasoline on Friday in the United States was $1.97, said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey. The last time the price was below $2 was on March 4, 2005, she said.The all-time high average was $4.11, set on July 11, according to Lundberg, and prices have been dropping ever since.
“The rate of decline has slowed somewhat, but it is still dramatic at 33 cents in two weeks,” she said.
Diesel prices averaged $2.93 on Friday, slumping under $3 for the first time since September 2007, she said.
Lundberg attributed the price reductions to a drop in crude oil prices and demand, and also because of low refining margins.
“Crude oil remains [the] main driver,” for the decline, she said, noting that crude oil futures settled on Friday below $50.
Demand is always low in November, she said, but the weakening economy is reducing it further.
However, Lundberg said that if crude oil prices do not fall further, “then the end of this [gasoline] price crash is either here or near.”
The Lundberg Survey is based on responses from more than 5,000 service stations nationwide.
On Friday, drivers in St. Louis, Missouri, paid the least at the pump — $1.61 — while drivers in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Anchorage, Alaska, paid the most, at $2.81.
Here are average prices in other cities:
- Detroit, Michigan — $1.76
- Houston, Texas — $1.78
- Atlanta, Georgia — $1.88
- Boston, Massachusetts — $2.01
- Chicago, Illinois — $2.10
- Washington — $2.19
- Los Angeles, California — $2.22
I must be doing something right… Two post in one week merited action from the powers in Washington and Detroit. I really can’t take full credit or even a small portion. The credit really goes to the people of Detroit like MaureenFrancis of Oakland County Real Easte Firm SKBK Sotheby’s International holding Corporate Executives accountable like in the latest attempt by GM to save the public image of their Company as they ask for money from US Tax Payer’s.
In the end the Big 3 US Automakers will get assistance and I hope they do. I just want to make sure it is used correctly and not to line the pockets of the wealthy.
MSNBC.com and Reuters is reporting that GM is Returning 2 Leased Jets from their corporate fleet.
GM to return two leased jets amid criticism
By Poornima Gupta
DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Corp will return two of its leased corporate jets amid intense criticism in Washington this week on the luxury travel arrangements of its chief executive even as the company pleads for federal aid.
CEO Rick Wagoner was in the capital to testify on the company’s dire financial situation but his testimony was overshadowed by irate lawmakers who blasted him for flying on a private jet to ask for public funds and failing to make personal sacrifices in exchange for federal assistance.
Chief executives from Ford Motor Co, and Chrysler LLC, who were also there to plead for $25 billion in federal aid, came under fire too for flying to Washington in private jets.
GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said on Friday GM decided to return the aircraft because of a “really aggressive cutback in travel.”
The company, which is in a cost-cutting mode, is scrutinizing every trip, he said, but declined to disclose the name of the company it leases the airplanes from.
Wilkinson said the decision to return the leased corporate jets was made before this week’s hearings and that the company in September returned two other of the seven jets it had at the beginning of the year.
“There is a perception issue,” Wilkinson said of Wagoner’s travel to Washington on a private jet. “We need to be very sensitive to that going forward.”
He, however, said the company has not decided on what mode of transportation Wagoner would take if had to travel to Washington again.
Wagoner and Ford CEO Alan Mulally are required by their companies to fly by private aircraft for security reasons, according to company documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The policy for Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli is not required to be disclosed because the company is not publicly traded.
Skeptical lawmakers took to task the three CEOs for their luxurious travel arrangements at congressional committee hearings.
“Couldn’t you have downgraded to first class or something, or jet-pooled or something to get here?” Rep. Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat, asked the executives at a hearing held by the U.S. House Financial Services Committee.
Even Democrats who said they were sympathetic to the automakers’ plight expressed frustration that the executives used private jets while professing ruthless cost-cutting measures.
A Chrysler spokesman said the automaker also leases or charters jets. He, however, declined to comment on whether the company was rethinking the use of private jets for executive travel, saying it was a “private matter.”
Ford did not have an immediate comment on its corporate jet policy.
According to Ford’s proxy, CEO Mulally’s compensation included $752,203 in 2007 for personal use of company aircraft.
About two years ago, the head of Ford’s North American operations, Mark Fields, gave up use of a corporate jet for personal travel to his home in Florida after the arrangement came under criticism at a time when the automaker was losing billions and slashing jobs.
He now flies first class on commercial planes.
(Additional reporting by David Bailey, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
Today on Capital Hill the Big Three Automakers were grilled about their business practices. Apparently the Senator from Massachusetts heard my trimming the fat suggestion at the end of my last Big Three Post. But in the latest round of American Companies needing government funds the Auto Executives were grilled by a Senator from MA about their corporate jet usage. Read about it on ABC News.
Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for Public Funds
Auto Industry Close to Bankruptcy But They Get Pricey Perk
By BRIAN ROSS and JOSEPH RHEE
The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation’s capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy.
The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler may have told Congress that they will likely go out of business without a bailout yet that has not stopped them from traveling in style, not even First Class is good enough.
All three CEOs – Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler – exercised their perks Tuesday by flying in corporate jets to DC. Wagoner flew in GM’s $36 million luxury aircraft to tell members of Congress that the company is burning through cash, asking for $10-12 billion for GM alone.
“We want to continue the vital role we’ve played for Americans for the past 100 years, but we can’t do it alone,” Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee.
While Wagoner testified, his G4 private jet was parked at Dulles airport. It is just one of a fleet of luxury jets owned by GM that continues to ferry executives around the world despite the company’s dire financial straits.
“This is a slap in the face of taxpayers,” said Tom Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste. “To come to Washington on a corporate jet, and asking for a hand out is outrageous.”
Wagoner’s private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000 roundtrip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for $288 coach and $837 first class.
After the hearing, Wagoner declined to answer questions about his travel.
Ford CEO Mulally’s corporate jet is a perk included for both he and his wife as part of his employment contract along with a $28 million salary last year. Mulally actually lives in Seattle, not Detroit. The company jet takes him home and back on weekends.
Plants Closed, Company Jets Stay
Mulally made his case Tuesday before the committee saying he’s cut expenses, laid-off workers and closed 17 plants.
“We have also reduced our work force by 51,000 employees in the past three years,” Mulally said.
Yet Ford continues to operate a fleet of eight private jets for its executives. Just Tuesday, one jet was taking Ford brass to Los Angeles, another on a trip to Nebraska, and of course Mulally needed to fly to Washington to testify. He did not address questions following the hearing.
“Now’s not the time to do that sort of thing,” said John McElroy of the television program “Autoline Detroit.”
“Now’s the time to be humble and show that you’re sharing equally in the sacrifice,” McElroy said.
GM and Ford say that it is a corporate decision to have their CEOs fly on private jets and that is non-negotiable, even as the companies say they are running out of cash.
Private jet travel is perhaps the greatest perk of all for CEOs, who say it allows them to travel more efficiently and safely, even in a recession.
AIG, despite the $150 billion bailout, still operates a fleet of corporate jets. The company says it has put two out of its seven jets up for sale and is reviewing the use of others. Though there are no such plans by GM or Ford.
“It appears that the senior management of the automakers simply don’t get it,” said Schatz.