Citigroup Scraps Corporate Jet

An early sign that President Obama will make effective use of his bully pulpit: The White House has apparently pressured Citigroup to scrap its plans for a new $50 million corporate jet. Obama administration officials called Citigroup yesterday and told it “to fix it.” Twenty-four hours earlier, Citigroup, which has so far received $45 billion in bailout funds, defended the jet as a smart business deal. At a press conference yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "The president said this during the transition, as it related to the auto companies using private jets: [He] doesn't believe that's the best use of money at this point.”