Boeing CEO Rejects Nationalization of Company While Begging for Taxpayer Bailout
Richard Moorhead
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The CEO of the Boeing Company is rebuffing the premise of granting the federal government an ownership stake in his company, while asking for a taxpayer-funded bailout.
David Calhoun rejected any consideration of the company’s nationalization during an interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo.
“I don’t have a need for an equity stake,” said the aircraft manufacturer’s CEO. ““I want them to support the credit markets, provide liquidity. Allow us to borrow against our future, which we all believe in very strongly and I think our creditors will too. It’s really that simple.”
Calhoun suggested that Boeing would altogether reject the premise of government aid if the federal government insisted on handing over an equity stake in the company.
The company only suspended a luxury stock buyback program intended to enrich its shareholders just last year. The Chinese coronavirus isn’t the only factor harming the company’s business prospects, with crashes of the Boeing 737 harming the firm’s image and forcing the resignation of its previous CEO. If anything, a federal share in the company could actually prove to provide the oversight that it sorely needs.
It’s somewhat confusing that a company which already garnishes 31% of its total revenue from the U.S. government is so vehemently opposed to allowing the taxpayer a share in the company in return for the short-term funds the company claims it needs to survive.
If receiving taxpayer aid isn’t worth the additional scrutiny of federal ownership for Boeing’s executives, the company should be allowed to walk on their way. That is, if their planned refusal of the bailout only proves to be a mere bluff, which they’re ready to forsake as they humbly beg for the bailout they seek, under the federal government’s conditions.
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