A Coveted Landing Strip for Google's Founders

An anonymous reader writes "The NYT reports, "In the annals of perks enjoyed by America's corporate executives, the founders of Google may have set a new standard: an uncrowded, federally managed runway for their private jet that is only a few minutes' drive from their offices. For $1.3 million a year, Larry Page and Sergey Brin get to park their customized wide-body Boeing 767-200, as well as two other jets used by top Google executives, on Moffett Field, an airport run by NASA that is generally closed to private aircraft."

Comments

Re:Nice one, NASA!

[jollyreaper]

I expected to see a ton of 'that's not fair!' posts here, but maybe those people don't wake up this early. Or maybe they aren't goofing off on slashdot.

Whenever I hear stories about shit like this, I always wonder about what's getting neglected to pay for this kind of insane luxury. When that asshole from Tyco was having his multi-million dollar anniversary on that greek island complete with vodka-peeing ice sculptures and Jimmy Buffett, he was using the company's coffers as his own private piggy bank. The day Enron cratered, the biggest thing on Ken Lay's plate were the fabric swatches for the new private jet.

The whole "hard work gets you somewhere" thing is just a Horatio Alger fantasy. Yeah, playing the lottery might make you a million but it's not a sound strategy to base your life on. Ok, so people used to think "I work hard for a company, I make pension, thus I've paid my dues." But then the pension goes away when the company's new owners perform some bankruptcy jujitsu. "Ok, but I'm paying into social security, I'll get back what I'm owed." Fat chance, it'll go bankrupt before you retire, so sorry. "Then I'll open my own business and pay for everything myself." Nice try, but if the economy tanks, you're going with it. Sisyphus is busting his ass, too.

For the average white kid, sitting there and dreaming of becoming the next Bill Gates ain't gonna fucking happen. He may as well be like the black kid dreaming of becoming the next Michael Jordon. But hell, the kid dreaming of a comfortable middle-class lifestyle may as well join them, cuz with trends the way they are, that's about as unrealistic.

I'm not bitter but I play it on TV.

nothing to see here

[mgabrys_sf]

Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that they're in negotiations to develop 1 million square feet of office space on that land as well.

Oh gee - did everyone here forget that? No - it's just corporate excess and greed of course.

Carry on slashtards.

Re:Larry's had that for a while

[plover]

Hey, since the place is already there, why not just open it up to any commercial flights that want to come in?

RTFA. They still aren't opening the strip to just anyone, and it's not just about the money. Gooogle is also allowing NASA to fly scientific instruments and researchers on the plane.

Translated, that really means "Of course it's about the money, you f*cktards. NASA's got enough planes. Google's got enough money. The whole researcher thing is just there to justify the deal in the newspapers."

After all, it's still Google, and their motto is still "Don't be caught being evil."