Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Citigroup's airplanes

Today, Citi decided not to take delivery of their new $50 million dollar jet, because today they decided that their two other jets, that are ten years old would do. (Only after a call from Treasury though!)

Considering that Southwest is known for their young fleet of planes, would anyone hazard a guess at the average age of their planes? How about 13.8 years. And these are planes that are used everyday! So what's wrong with Citi's planes that were ten years old? Nothing!
http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/Southwest%20Airlines.htm

Now Citiflight, Inc., Citi's company that manages Citi's aircraft, has a couple of planes that their executives fly on. Their tail #'s numbers are N588GS, and N399GS.

Now put these numbers into http://flightaware.com/live/ to see where their planes have been. Whoops. That function has been disabled! Instead of a flight plan, you'll get this:
This flight is not available for tracking per request from the owner/operator.

Now think about that. These banks even hide their flight plans. So why would anyone think they weren't hiding losses on their balance sheets?

The difference is, that in a week, you will own the losses of these banks, and these same banks, then won't even give you a loan.

And now, all these bad loans, hidden in conduits, off-balance sheet vehicles, and in Level II and Level III accounting gimmicks, that the banks swore they didn't have, will now, suddenly appear and see the light of day!

So you the taxpayer, can buy them!

Now if these banks get enough scrutiny from the public, they will eventually cave, and start doing business because scrutiny makes it harder for these thieves to steal money.

Think about it. Does anybody really think that John Thain really wanted to reimburse Merrill Lynch for his million dollar decorating job? Or do you think Thain, offered the reimbursement as a proffer for the subpoena he just received on Merrill's early payment of $4 billion of bonuses?

It makes me sick that these banks aren't going to be held accountable for their losses, while these same banks won't lift a finger for the homeowner that is upside down on their mortgage.

But that's the hand we have been dealt with. So the only way to get some coin back from these bankers that have pulverized your net worth, is to play their stocks, or the financial ETF's.

As Gretsky said, "Skate where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."

Even if it makes me want to puke!

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