Working Life

   Yesterday, Robert Rubin testified before the commission investigating the financial crisis: But Robert E. Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, faced withering questions from the panel, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, for his spare expressions of remorse. Repeatedly playing down his role as chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup’s board, he was met with […]

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   The financial collapse a year ago was also, in my mind, a further sign of the bankruptcy of the traditional media. Even though the rising real estate and stock market bubble were obvious for a number of years, The New York Times rarely took on the greed in Wall Street, treating, particularly in the […]

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Oh, don’t get me wrong–Madoff will, and should, die in prison. But, there is a downside to all this obsession with Bernie Madoff–his crimes are miniscule compared to the legalized robbery that went on in Wall Street and devastated the lives of millions of people. And we can’t let the media circus around Madoff let […]

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Oh, don’t get me wrong–Madoff will, and should, die in prison. But, there is a downside to all this obsession with Bernie Madoff–his crimes are miniscule compared to the legalized robbery that went on in Wall Street and devastated the lives of millions of people. And we can’t let the media circus around Madoff let […]

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The traditional press has ample capacity to obsess about stupid things but very little capacity to dig deep (yes, I know, I’m stating the obvious). Today’s example: Timothy Geithner. Yes, the guy messed up and, I’m going to take his word for it, forgot to pay some social security taxes. But, the real question is: […]

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   Ah, yes, another chapter in the saga of the great financial guru, Robert Rubin–you know, the guy who the entire political and media establishment fawned over for almost two decades as the all-knowing, all-seeing, wise man of the global financial world…until, of course, the entire financial house of cards collapsed in large part because […]

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  Back in November, I asked the question: is Robert Rubin a liar or a coward or both? Today, in what should be a welcome sight to every working American, Rubin is effectively being run out of Citigroup, his reputation sullied. And, yet, he continues to obfuscate his role in the financial crisis we face. […]

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Jay Gould, the robber baron of the 19th Century, famously said that, "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half." As we live through one of the worst economic collapses in a century, Gould’s wish is coming true. And we must stop Gould’s modern-day robber barons from sowing seeds […]

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   Even though I’ve suggested that auto workers should not pay for the mistakes made by the industry’s executives, the drumbeat has been pretty persistent that the workers will take another hit. And it picks up in today’s New York Times: While the union has not agreed to reopen contracts at General Motors, Ford and […]

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  The inevitable is happening: the people who lead us over cliff and helped spark the collapse of our financial system are running for cover. They want to avoid responsibility for the debacle. And among those running to hide is Robert Rubin.   In an extraordinary interview published today in The Wall Street Journal, Rubin […]

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