Dooker
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2007
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From the Associated Press--
MESA, Ariz. – President Barack Obama threw a $20 billion lifeline to hundreds of Americans on the brink of losing their shares in private jets Wednesday, declaring an urgent need for drastic action — not only to save their jets but to keep the fractional aviation crisis "from wreaking even greater havoc" on the broader national economy.
The lending plan, a full $8 billion bigger than the administration had been suggesting, aims to prevent as many as 400 fractional jet owners from being forced to fly on the airlines and to stabilize private jet markets that are at the center of the ever-worsening U.S. recession.
Government support pledged to fractional operators Netjets, Flexjet and Citation Shares is being doubled as well, to $8 billion, as part of an effort to encourage them to refinance shares that are "under water" — those in which jets’ market values have sunk below the amount the owners still owe.
"All of us are paying a price for this fractional jet crisis, and all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow this crisis to continue to deepen," Obama said.
The new president, focusing closely on the economy, in his first month in office, rolled out the private jet program one day after he was in Denver to sign his $787 billion emergency stimulus plan to revive the rest of the economy. And his administration is just now going over fresh requests for multiple billions in bailout cash from ailing automakers.
Wall Street has shown little confidence in the new steps, declining sharply on Tuesday before leveling off after Wednesday's announcement. The Dow Jones industrials rose 3 points for the day.
MESA, Ariz. – President Barack Obama threw a $20 billion lifeline to hundreds of Americans on the brink of losing their shares in private jets Wednesday, declaring an urgent need for drastic action — not only to save their jets but to keep the fractional aviation crisis "from wreaking even greater havoc" on the broader national economy.
The lending plan, a full $8 billion bigger than the administration had been suggesting, aims to prevent as many as 400 fractional jet owners from being forced to fly on the airlines and to stabilize private jet markets that are at the center of the ever-worsening U.S. recession.
Government support pledged to fractional operators Netjets, Flexjet and Citation Shares is being doubled as well, to $8 billion, as part of an effort to encourage them to refinance shares that are "under water" — those in which jets’ market values have sunk below the amount the owners still owe.
"All of us are paying a price for this fractional jet crisis, and all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow this crisis to continue to deepen," Obama said.
The new president, focusing closely on the economy, in his first month in office, rolled out the private jet program one day after he was in Denver to sign his $787 billion emergency stimulus plan to revive the rest of the economy. And his administration is just now going over fresh requests for multiple billions in bailout cash from ailing automakers.
Wall Street has shown little confidence in the new steps, declining sharply on Tuesday before leveling off after Wednesday's announcement. The Dow Jones industrials rose 3 points for the day.