"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., told the chief executive officers of Ford Motor Corp., Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.
The exchange over the lack of judgment fueled the already lack of confidence that investors have for GM and Ford with each closing down Wednesday, helping to push a deep Dow decline of 426.91 points, or 5.1% to 7,997.28. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq decreased 96.85, or 6.5%, to 1,886.42.
Confidence in financial services company Citigroup Inc. also continued to wane as the bank dropped nearly 23% as credit default swap spreads on its debt widened after the firm brought more than $17.4 billion in assets onto its books. - Gerald Magpily
As the CEOs of the Big Three automakers pleaded with members of Congress on Wednesday for bailout money, lawmakers scolded the three heads for using private jets to fly to Washington. 
