Salem pulled out? I thought it was DePace who got his Republican knickers in a twist.
If it was meant to be a bit, it's ruined. And the fact that it all stemed from Howard's cheapness and/or unwillingness to give gifts to some people further down the line, makes it even more absurd! That's got to be awful for morale...not that things seem to be going great lately, either!
I believe both Scotts pulled out. It was funny to hear Scott the engineer call Howard out for being the cheap bastard that he is. As you correctly pointed out, the morale must be really low at Sirius. Hell, they wouldn't even pay Greg Fitzsimmons' hotel bill - and he's a Sirius employee! LOL
Even though he's under no obligation to do so, wouldn't it be a good will gesture on Howard's part to throw a holiday party for his immediate staff? No elaborate presents, just a morale boosting get together. The cost wouldn't be that much, and it could be written off as a business expense to boot.
The content on H100 and H101 certainly can't be tapping out the 100 million per year budget, can it? I guess spending less than half of a one way helicopter ride to the Hamptons on his dedicated, loyal employees is beyond the reason of this lanky miser.