Time Is Money

Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Toronto Star just happens to be my local paper. You’ll probably find this same story in your local state-wide, province-wide, or county-wide-down-at-the-local-diner newspaper today and over the weekend.

The story is about luxury jets and executives begging for money. I’m not going there.

I’m about Clear Thinking, and in this column especially Bad Logic.

Background: Three auto-industry leaders flew in separate private jets to Washington to beg for a bailout, promising to trim costs etc etc etc.

“...the flights cost about $20,000 (U.S.) each. U.S. Airways was offering return Detroit-Washington flights for $329.”

And then “Chrysler and General Motors responded, saying private jets were being used to ensure security and make the best use of the executives' time.”

Now we already know that plebs can read, use cell-phones etc while waiting for an airplane, so we already know that these arguments sound hollow, but here’s the clincher: I was in a downtown office yesterday and overheard a head honcho discussing leaving the downtown office at six to make a seven-thirty flight to Cincinnati. A comparable flight. Probably took a cab (read, cell) to the departures level, stood in line (cell) for twenty minutes, then made for the boarding lounge (cell, read) for thirty minutes. I know that you know how it goes.

Remember that $20,000?

Let’s be generous and say that that saves a harried exec ninety minutes each side. That’s a three-hour saving.

Three into twenty thousand comes to, er, nearly seven thousand dollars an hour.

I’m in the wrong job.

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