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Your Bailout Money at Work

“The notion of Citigroup spending $50 million on a new corporate jet, even as it is depending on billions of taxpayer dollars to survive, does not fly,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit. “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 has received $45 billion in government funding. It ordered a $50 million French-made Dassault Falcon 7X in 2005 and is to take possession this year.

This is the latest expense of a Wall Street bank that’s received billions in government aid to draw ire. Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain spent $1.2 million to redecorate his office last year — including $1,400 on a wastebasket — and will repay Merrill’s parent company Bank of America.