Well, here we go with the class-envy thing again. Just as with private businesses, there is actual benefit to be had by scheduling your own flights, with your own security on board. That's not to say there shouldn't be some interest in ROI.

On the other hand, sometimes a governor, like SC's Mark Sanford, takes a trip abroad (pun unintended) for real business reasons. Those of you who are Constitution fans might recognize that states are forbidden from entering into treaties, and wonder how closely that is approached by talking to state-run businesses overseas.

Sorry Rad, but this is not a class envy issue at all. Congress, having made the mess we must live with, should NEVER be allowed to escape it.

If they have to endure it, they will fix the worst of it.

Lets say what it really is- Like other things,such as health care etc.. congress makes exceptions for themselves as most of them think they are part of a priviledged class for whom the rules don't apply.

"Let them eat Cake!!!".

These corrupt, entitled, pin-striped suit, elitist numb-nut politicians are so completely in a world of their own. I guarantee they don't see the blatent irony of buying planes when this country is so completely broke that we just HAD to pass the Stimulus bill to avoid complete imminent economic disaster. They are probably completely blindsided by the public outrage.

Them? Fly coach? They would be appalled by the mere suggestion. Harry Reid can't even stand the smell of tourists fifty yards away.

Being a civil servant for the US Government use to actually mean something, like sacrifice. They were paid peanuts. Go in, serve your term, do what is best for your districts and get the hell out of there and go make money in the private sector. Period.

Only the best and the brightest were elected and the pay was nominal so no one wanted to hang around for too long and they were actually motivated to do what was in the best interest of the little peeps because that's where they were going back to live out the rest of their days.

It's just such a joke now.

And another thing....

The way they mock and look down their noses at Americans in these townhalls is so grotesque it leaves me speechless. These plane purchases are completely representative of their absence of appreciation of where the money they spend comes from. OFF OF THE BACKS OF HARD WORKING, TAX PAYING AMERICAN CITIZENS!!!

I can't wait for 2010. I'm just hoping people have woken up by then.

I want them to endure the TSA indignities like the rest of us.

All of it, class envy.

These people have jobs you don't. Want it done better? Complaining about the money they take home, too? Take their job.

You elected them. Hey, I know you want to claim differently, but when you look at the roster of fast talkers in Congress, none of them got there without a vote, including yours.

You stood by while Hillary claimed to be from New York. You turned away to watch the news about Monica while John Huang carried Chinese cash to the White House, and while Frank Lautenburg was allowed to enter the race in NJ, after the deadline (those are for other people). You might think that a Kennedy was cool when the Mob got him the Presidency. You dunno about Eisenhower, the master of appearing to do nothing while the nuclear weapons race was in full swing, who warned about the "military-industrial complex" while striking huge deals with the Teamsters.

So, you just want others to suffer, too. Suffering is the point. It's all there is. Burger King not hiring? Damn that government official, with his limousine.

We must have the only country in the world whose certifiably crazy people want the President to be respected worldwide as he rides a bus.

Hey, I admire Teddy Roosevelt for paying his own fare home, and Franklin for running America in WW2 with just 41 staffers.

But every time you think another government service is a good idea, you add to government payroll. Now, run off to get my tax money in the "clunker" program and be gloriously happy you got something.

As in, another few thousand in debt.

Folk are so petty. You don't want people who have actually earned their money to fly somewhere in a private jet - no matter how many of your neighbors were paid to build the thing.

Radwaste. It has nothing to do with class envy for me. These guys are crooks. (I didn't give a rip that GM flew to their hearings in a private jet). Because before that point, they weren't TAKING MY MONEY TO DO IT.

It's not that they have all these toys, its that they ARE TAKING MY MONEY in order to live the life Reilly and sending this country into the shit-hole.

You honestly believe that any citizen with the chutzpah to run for public office in let's say, Chicago has ANY chance of making that happen? Perhaps you are a better person than, I to believe this.

Look how Obama got elected as junior senator of IL. He got everyone else kicked off the ballot! Then he had Clinton introduce him into the Senate. Pelosi & Feinstein are another two who have extorted millions and millions out of the American public and practically purchased their way in. They have money. What average Joe Public can outspend these guys in an election?!

And Palin. Ethics complaints sending her into a financial hole.

IT’S A RACKET!!! And as a tax payer, I can damn well complain about this!!! This is not free market capitalism. This is CRONY capitalism.

And here is a real life example. A man from my neighborhood and (also one of my friends father) ran for city counsel, got it. Mayor, got it. He went for congressman, and some union backed (D) candidate with NO experience got the job. A former teacher.

I was getting fliers in the mail everyday - a smear campaign on this guy. I started calling around on the flier sponsors and found out they were unions. It was absurd. This woman was so underqualified it made me ill.

He had balanced the budget every year he was mayor. But he was an African American Republican, so all he was getting was Uncle Tom comments and union smears.

So much for "Civic" duty.

Sorry, correction, he went for assemblyman.

Radwaste: "You don't want people who have actually earned their money to fly somewhere in a private jet - no matter how many of your neighbors were paid to build the thing."

Oh please.

I have absolutely no problem with Paris Hilton flying somewhere on her private jet. None at all. Whether she earned her money or not. But aren't our congressmen flying on our tax dollars, rather than their "earned money"? And aren't they more likely to want to fix the TSA's problems if they actually have to contend with those problems themselves?

For that matter, executives who fly in private jets for business are typically flying on the company's dime, not their own "earned money". And the company's dime is money that could go to the shareholders or "your neighbor" who works at the company. But don't get me wrong -- if the executive is doing a bang-up job and the company is rolling in dough, I've got no problem at all with it. It does make you stop and think, though, when you've got the executive of a bankrupt company, who is going to DC to beg for a taxpayer handout, going there in a private jet.

Saw a report this morning that the plan has been killed. They've gone back to the DoD's original request -- one new Gulfstream, and conversion of a few existing leases to purchases. Savings, if I've counted right, amounts to $418M.

Don't forget that the money for these additional planes was going to come out of the DoD's budget. They were going to have to cut it from something else -- fewer troops, less equipment, or less research.

This is years late, but I have to put it in here so I can find it again:

"For that matter, executives who fly in private jets for business are typically flying on the company's dime, not their own "earned money". And the company's dime is money that could go to the shareholders or "your neighbor" who works at the company. But don't get me wrong -- if the executive is doing a bang-up job and the company is rolling in dough, I've got no problem at all with it. It does make you stop and think, though, when you've got the executive of a bankrupt company, who is going to DC to beg for a taxpayer handout, going there in a private jet."

This is more "wealth envy".
A corporation decides what the compensation and travel provisions of its officers are per the board of directors, acting within the charter they have filed in the state of incorporation.
Nothing about this is our business.
That a self-professed attorney would suggest that a company act outside its charter is um, remarkable.

Furthermore, it reveals appalling disregard for the requirements of commercial travel. Companies which have provided bodyguards or which are shipping protected information in volume may be prohibited from doing so by the TSA; in such cases, the company would also be forced to disregard their charter.