Stop Robert Rubin Before He Kills Again

[depakid]

Robert Rubin is poisoning Washington again.

The former Treasury Secretary who presided over the nearly-fatal deregulation of the financial industry -- then made $126 million nearly killing Citigroup -- had been keeping an appropriately low profile in the nation's capital ever since everything he wrought went pear-shaped.

But now he's back, and once again trying to influence public policy.

On Friday he made his third major (and apology-free) Washington appearance in two weeks, delivering opening remarks at a conference that his pet think tank, the Hamilton Project, co-sponsored with the liberal Center for American Progress.

But the last thing Washington needs right now is another infusion of Rubinomics -- by which I mean the combination of deregulatory zeal, deficit obsession, free tradeism and general coziness with fat-cat Wall Street bankers that Rubin epitomizes.

It's long been troubling that so many of Obama's top economic advisers are former Rubin proteges, but the return and rehabilitation of the man himself is particularly unwelcome right now. Mild signs of recovery aside, we remain very much in the midst of an unemployment crisis that is devastating American families and that requires active, urgent government intervention -- not hand-wringing about the federal budget deficit. Financial regulation, to be effective, needs to limit what Rubin and his friends want to be able to do.

The Rubin effect could be felt at Friday's event, which was ostensibly about "The Future of American Jobs," but which -- with a few notable exceptions -- lacked a sense of urgency about the current unemployment crisis, focusing instead on long-terms "structural problems."

Asked by feisty moderator Chrystia Freeland of Reuters to explain why, if our capital markets are the best in the world, job creation is so weak, panelist and Berkeley economics professor Alan Auerbach instead launched into a disquisition on tax policy and the need to reduce corporate income taxes.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/stop-robert-rubin-before_n_559465.html

[truedelphi]

1. I do hope there is a special place in Hell for Rubin

And all his damned proteges as well.

And anyone who has appointed any of them.

[change_notfinetuning]

4. Hey, don't hold back. How do you really feel? As for me, seeing people like

that suffer in some Hell in this existence on Earth would be more satisfying. Absent that, I second your opinion.

[howaboutme]

2. Couldn't agree more

Who is behind Robert Rubin and what gives him and his peers such as Summers their clout? Rubin has demonstrated continually now that he is an incompetent failure whether in government or in the private sector? The USA would be far better off if we have individuals such as Simon Johnson and Paul Volcker pulling the financial strings.

[Demeter]

3. Maybe It's a Trap

Lure him in, then charge him with organized crime, RICO him and his cronies, and put them out of our misery.

Of course, that would be Candidate Obama, not President Obama.....