# Citicorp's on-and-off jet purchase: $50 BILLION??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457 "2009-01-28T22:49:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/1 "2009-01-28T22:49:01Z")
I keep hearing about this jet that Citicorp was going to buy with taxpayer money - or more precisely was soon to be delivered 2 years after being ordered. What I keep hearing is that its cost is fifty billion dollars. This price tag is incredible. I don’t know if there are any aircraft that cost that much, even a space shuttle (which I think costs about half a billion dollars to fly once). Fifty million could be reasonable for a new corporate jet, I think; my only data point is a fairly old but perfectly serviceable Learjet that cost two million used some years back. But I have heard it said several times on the CNN and MSNBC news channels, and have seen it go by in text on the “ticker” at the bottom of the screen several times on both channels, most recently this morning. Can these guys keep getting it wrong by a factor of a thousand, again and again over several days? Everything I am referring to here is AFAIK in the United States where “billion” means 1,000,000,000. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/2 "2009-01-28T22:51:49Z")
Just as an afterthought - is there any possibility that the financial crisis bailout that everybody is so upset about is actually only around $800,000,000? I mean, I only have CNN’s and MSNBC’s numbers to go on in both cases… ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/3 "2009-01-28T22:52:24Z")
It’s $50 million ($50,000,000) for the jet. The $50 billion was (roughly) the amount of bailout they got. So, yeah, looks like CNN and MSNBC are that dumb. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/4 "2009-01-28T22:52:33Z")
yes they are off by a factor of 1000. Its a Dassault Falcon 7x which costs $50 million. > **[Dassault Falcon 7X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Falcon_7X)** > > The Dassault Falcon 7X is a large-cabin, 5,950 nautical miles (11,020 km) range business jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation, the second largest of its Dassault Falcon line. Unveiled at the 2001 Paris Air Show, its first flight took place on 5 May 2005 and it entered service on 15 June 2007. The Falcon 8X, first delivered on 5 October 2016, is derived from the 7X and has an extended range of 6,450 nautical miles (11,950 km) made possible through engine optimization, aerodynamic refinements as w... ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/5 "2009-01-28T23:29:30Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > …What I keep hearing is that its cost is fifty billion dollars… > I have heard it said several times on the CNN and MSNBC news channels, and have seen it go by in text on the “ticker” at the bottom of the screen several times on both channels, most recently this morning. Can these guys keep getting it wrong by a factor of a thousand, again and again over several days? It appears they can. Here’s an [MSNBC story](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28872167/) the mentions the correct figure of $50M. The brainlessness of typical reporters never ceases to amaze. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/6 "2009-01-28T23:39:28Z")
Considering that the cost of a state-of-the-art F-22 fighter is about $145 million (an ongoing current news item) you would think that any reporter’s common sense filter would prevent them from saying $50 billion. But then, nobody ever when broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public [or it’s news reporters and pundits]. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/7 "2009-01-28T23:45:23Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > The brainlessness of typical reporters never ceases to amaze. Unless someone shows me an article with the incorrect price tag, I’m thinking the OP misheard or misremembered. [This story got a lot of attention](http://www.nypost.com/seven/01262009/news/nationalnews/just_plane_despicable_152033.htm), and while anybody can make a slip of the tongue, I don’t think it’s likely anybody printed $50 billion when they meant million. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/8 "2009-01-29T00:18:42Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Unless someone shows me an article with the incorrect price tag, I’m thinking the OP misheard or misremembered. Sounds reasonable. But I’ve seen enough brainless articles about aviation over the years that I’ve come to believe accuracy is the excepetion. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/9 "2009-01-29T00:40:27Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > yes they are off by a factor of 1000. Its a Dassault Falcon 7x which costs $50 million. And guys, if you’re gonna drop that kind of change on a shiny toy that goes whoosh, considering the current political and economic climate, at least buy American. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/10 "2009-01-29T00:53:45Z")
Did they say it cost 50 billion or that Citicorp was buying it with the 50 billion bailout they got? I can’t imagine them being that dumb. Well, actually I can, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/11 "2009-01-29T07:57:55Z")
Hey, that’s only about $1,467 per pound. So it’s not even worth it’s weight in gold, only about 1/10th of that. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/12 "2009-01-29T12:23:11Z")
To be fair, Citigroup did indicate that this order was placed a good time ago, and that they planned to sell two other aircraft that this aircraft would replace, for more than the new cost of this new aircraft. Since this aircraft is more efficient, the overall operating costs were expected to be less. So here we are in a win-win situation and _idiot_, populist politicians are catering to their uneducated constituents and making things worse (just like the “Big 3 fly to Washington in private planes” story again). ☹ God, I’m starting to think we either need a fascist dictator or go back to poll tests in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/13 "2009-01-29T17:33:32Z")
What I saw going by on the ticker was “50 billion” for the price of the plane, and “45 billion” for the amount of the bailout they were getting, the few times I saw that one go by. I started pointing the plane price out to Mrs. Napier when I would see it, so there are two of us. I haven’t seen any articles saying this - I’m only citing the ticker and oral statements I saw. Since I’ve been interested enough in this tidbit to point it out repeatedly and to post about it here, I don’t think it’s a question of misremembering. Later yesterday I tried Googling the phrases “citicorp” AND “50 billion jet” without finding any web mentions of the 50 billion figure as the price of the jet. Googling the phrases “citicorp” AND “50 million jet” gives lots of hits. This makes me doubt there are articles confusing things. It seems likliest the live shows and their tickers were misspeaking. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/citicorps-on-and-off-jet-purchase-50-billion/483457/14 "2009-01-29T18:05:29Z")
Hmm. Do a search on Citicorp + “$50b jet”. The first [Google link](http://a.abcnews.com/Business/Politics/story?id=6740011&page=1)is _ABC News: High-Flying Citigroup Grounds Plans for $50B Jetcitigroup reverses itself and decides to not take delivery of a new $50 billion corporate jet from France._ but when you go to the story, it’s been corrected to $50 million.