Besides stewing over how many ticky-tacky penalties the refs called on Arizona during the Super Bowl, the Fan has been stewing over this news story from earlier in the day. If you read the story, two congressmen have decided to do some grandstanding and complain to President Obama about Citigroup sponsoring Citi Field. Either these yahoos don't understand law or they do and they still want their constiuents to think highly of them for their daring stand.
First of all, the beleaguered Citigroup signed this contract with the Mets three years ago. It is a binding contract. Both parties signed in good faith when no one (except maybe Nostradamus) saw this current situation coming. The Mets made this deal for the revenue and expect to get their money. And rightly so. The contract is in the bag as they say.
Citigroup could bow to pressure and ask the Mets out of the deal, but then the Mets can sue and the litigation will cost as much as the dang sign does on the new stadium.
To step a little beyond the zone of this blog (that the story was about a baseball stadium gave the Fan a good excuse), it's all good and proper to trumpet a foul when bailed out financial institutions give their executives bonuses despite the bailout and the need of it due to mismanagement. But it's lunacy to stop public and private companies from spending capital on things like advertising and jets for that matter.
One of the ways out of this mess is for companies and people to spend money. That's one of the problems right now. Everyone is scared to death and nobody is spending money. Therefore, the auto industry is hurting, retail is hurting and all sectors of the cash economy are at a standstill.
Take the jet thing for instance (to refresh your memory, click here), the politicians scored a political victory by having Citigroup (again) stop from buying a jet they had already ordered and paid for. Great. What about the company and its employees that made and marketed the jet? What about the salespeople that brokered the deal? Now they all take a financial hit at the worst possible time. Who knows what financial problems this will now cause the maker of the jet and its employees. Again. it will take people spending money to start this economy flowing. That's the whole purpose of the stimulus package. Give people some of their tax dollars back and they will spend it.
So what does it serve to stop a sale and hurt an airplane manufacturer in the process? What tax dollars will be saved when those employees are laid off and go on the dole? And the deal will cost Citigroup millions anyway for backing off the deal and they (and the taxpayers that are funding them) get nothing for it.
Bottom line: politicians should pick their battles smartly. Yes, don't let Citigroup execs get fat when their stockholders are getting hosed. But for gosh sakes, let them have the sign they already signed a contract for three years ago and let them make a purchase here or there for the benefit of the economy.
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