The streets of New York

by flory

Everybody is pilng on poor Bobby Rubin . And that's as it should be, since Bob Rubin is the dog poop on the sole of Alan Greenspan's shoe.

He hit a nerve, did our Bob. More to the point, the whole Citigroup bailout appears to have hit a big nerve, which Bear Sterns and AIG and Fannie and Freddie and all the rest managed to miss. There's a question as to why this particular bailout, amongst the plethora of bailouts to date, would have twanged our national nerves so badly, but that it did so is undeniable.

Was it simply familiarity? Citigroup, unlike the rest, is a retail operation, so Joe and Jane Plumber can actually put a face on the news report's names. And given the joys of modern retail banking, they're probably not overly fond of those faces.

Or was it more comparative? Citi has the misfortune of holding its hand out at the same time as the auto companies. And for all the national angst as to whether or not the auto companies, and their tens of thousands of blue collar workers, deserve to dip into the national piggy bank, there didn't seem to be a bit of debate as to whether or not Citi's upper class bankers would get the same consideration.

The american public as a whole may not understand modern financial markets, but they're certainly smart enough to understand that something stinks here.

But at the end of the day, I think the criticism of Rubin is misdirected. The commentariat has focused on his patently idiotic buck passing:

Nobody was prepared for this,” Mr. Rubin said in an interview. He cited former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan as another example of someone whose reputation has been unfairly damaged by the crisis.

 Really, what would you expect him to say? He can't exactly go on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and admit that he and Chuck Prince and Vikram Pandit knew all along that they were mobilizing a deliberate trainwreck. If he even hinted at something approaching an apology he'd be responsible for a mass heart attack in the legal offices. There will be lawsuits aplenty no matter what he says; giving the plaintiffs ammunition for their case probably isn't in his job description.

No. What he should be condemned for is the sheer bloody arrogance that had him agreeing to the damn interview in the first place. He knew going in that he was going to have to lie his ass off through the whole piece. And he did it anyway. He's bought into his own PR. He still believes in the majesty of the Teflon executive and that he'd get away with it.

Guess he was wrong

Comments

[Jemand von Niemand]

"...there is a limit to the usefulness of finger-pointing. Most of the critics ...did not anticipate the severity of the credit collapse, and we should not act as if the executives and regulators who failed to prevent it were blind or stupid."

-- Little Floyd Norris, It's A Crisis, And Ideas Are Scarce
New York Times, April 11, 2008

"Nobody was prepared for this."

-- Little Bobby Rubuin, Nine Years Old,
Concerning the collapse of Citigroup and his role in it

"Nobody could have forseen this."

-- Little Georgie Bush, Four Years Old
Concerning the September 11, 2001 Attacks

When You Are Full Of Shit, You Are In Fact Full Of Shit.

[Jemand von Niemand]

"...there is a limit to the usefulness of finger-pointing. Most of the critics — myself included — did not anticipate the severity of the credit collapse, and we should not act as if the executives and regulators who failed to prevent it were blind or stupid."

-- Little Floyd Norris, It's A Crisis, And Ideas Are Scarce,
New York Times, April 11, 2008

"Nobody was prepared for this."

-- Little Bobby Rubin, Nine years Old,
Concerning the collapse of Citigroup and his role in it

"Nobody could have forseen this."

"In other words, I didn't anticipate war... one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen."

-- Little Georgie Bush, King
Concerning the 9/11 Attacks, and his Pestidency

When You Are Full Of Shit, You Are In Fact Full Of Shit.

[Jemand von Niemand]

Sorry for the double post. If someone wants to put one of the comments out of its misery, I'd be grateful.

[D. Sidhe]

It kind of sticks in my craw especially because my partner has a credit card with them and they call literally daily for weeks on end trying to get the cardholder on the phone to offer fraud protection services that wouldn't even be necessary if they'd stop sending us credit card offers weekly. I can't help thinking our tax money will be subsidizing the calls and junk mail. It's bad enough we have to deal with this, we have to pay for it, too?

[karen marie]

yeah, citi comes under extra fire because lots of people -- including "law makers" -- have citi in their wallet, charging up-the-ass interest rates.

AIG? who the hell is AIG?

[Rick B]

Aw, Gee. How horrible. Robbie Rubin and Alan Greenspan's reputations have been unfairly tarnished by the collapse of the financial empires they each worked so hard to build.

Maybe they should call up Phil Gramm from the failing UBS and all of them go to the White House to commiserate with the most completely tarnished reputation of them all, that of George W. Bush.

And all of them can look at the entire Republican Party for further "tarnished reputation."

Give them T-shirts that say "I deregulated the banking industry, oursourced real American jobs and all I got was this T-shirt, millions of dollars, and a tarnished reputation so bad even the hookers won't associate with me."