Blame game at Citi continues

The blame game continues at Citi, and it's a bit uncomfortable. The latest is that Robert Rubin, the board consigliore at Citi, is being forced to deny culpability for the colossal mess that is Citi. Rubin, however, has acknowledged that he was involved in a board decision to boost risk-taking in 2004 and 2005. Some think he's been so close to the sun for so long that he's got to bear some responsibility.

Here's the opinion of a Washington Post financial columnist: "What is indisputable is that all of the decisions that have led to Citi's recent troubles were taken while Rubin was chairman of the executive committee, and made by executives with whom he worked closely. He defended them repeatedly and unequivocally, and as a director, he approved compensation packages that rewarded them (and himself) handsomely for judgments that proved disastrous." The columnist also notes that Obama's new economic team is "drawn almost entirely from Rubin's acolytes," listing Tim Geithner, Larry Summers and Peter Orszag.   

For more:
- here's a New York Post article 
- here's the Washington Post column

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