I heart the WSJ. They fileted Robert Rubin on the front page today:

Rubin, Under Fire, Defends His Role at Citi
(the full article is only available to subscribers for a few days)

The best part of Rubin's fileting (fileted, fileting... why doesn't Firefox think these are words?) is that they just quote some stats and Rubin himself:
  • Rubin's slice of the pie: $115M since 1999
  • Citi's investors: At $8/share, they're down more than 80%... or, if you bought at $4, you've got a double, he he!
  • Rubin was directly involved in the board's decision to ramp up Citi's risk profile in 2004-2005. Nice timing, Bob.
  • Rubin sites a consultant report to the board that recommended additional risk-taking at Citi. Then, he throws up his hands saying that the board "can't run the risk book of a company."
QOTD
"Maybe there are things, in the context of the facts we knew then, we should have done differently."
- Robert Rubin on Citi... cha, ya think?
Rubin adds "Nobody was prepared for this." It'll be interesting to see history assign blame... W? Greenspan? Bernanke? Paulson? Capitalism? Greed? Sigh. Is there a more vacuous argument than "everyone is greedy" or "everyone is stupid".

Hey, capitalism is an adolescent, if that. Shit, democracy too, right? We're still tinkering. Capitalism, democracy, technology, modern life... we're just getting started. Freedom has its price. So, in that respect, I agree with Rubin... nobody was prepared and it's a difficult problem. So let's fix this up and make a different mistake next time. Done.

And can you smell the fear, the desperation?
Carl Icahn raises his stake in Yahoo

Nice call, Carl... catch that falling knife, buddy.
I wonder if any of these billionaires will actually lose everything... or enough to hurt more than just their pride.

QOTD2
"Everything looks the same."
- Peggy Noonan, on our "Great Depression 2" in Turbulence Ahead
It is eerie.
You turn on the tube, and it's depression, bailout, collapse...
You walk down the street and nothing...
We shall see.
I keep daydreaming of The Castle chockful 'o down-and-out friends and family... lots of penny ante Texas Hold 'Em. He he!
yahoo... yow, bill

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