Comments on: Why Is Robert Rubin So Bad at PR?

By: ThreeFold Commonwealth

ThreeFold Commonwealth — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:21:51 +0000

John Kenneth Galbraith’s dictum about the end of financial euphorias states that a previously omnipotent figure from the boom must be dethroned in the bust. Robert Rubin seems to fit that bill. No. Warren Buffett is the king top be dethroned. Rubin is the $100 million dollar lobbyist.

By: dunnage

dunnage — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:14:41 +0000

I don’t think he has anything to say. The current players in the private and public sectors compounded the mess while reaping mind boggling $. Rubin knows. He may have decided to fold his hand rather than make lame excuses.

Above, jmcmanus shows what he could do. It would work. I suspect he will move backstage where he probably will be able to exert influence.

By: How the Common Man Sees It

How the Common Man Sees It — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:12:35 +0000

The amazing thing about it is that he sold his reputation after he was ALREADY RICH!!

Reputation doesn’t matter to these guys, only access. It is dishonoring to the word reputation to say that these types of people had one. He is stepping down not because he lost his reputation but his access

By: john haskell

john haskell — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:57:44 +0000

This is very easy to understand. When you are getting paid $15 million to do nothing, your reputation will suffer. No one will believe you were paid $15 million to do nothing. They will think that either you were the world’s highest paid lobbyist (Citibank’s sweetheart bespoke bailout would support this view) or that actually you are lying about doing nothing and bonehead moves such as the purchase of Old Lane- a deal which will live in infamy- were in fact engineered by you. Rubin sold his reputation. That’s why he’s “bad at PR” – no one believes him any more. The amazing thing about it is that he sold his reputation after he was ALREADY RICH!!

By: jmcmanus

jmcmanus — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:09:40 +0000

Admit errors, advise management gurus and leadership counselors. It’s a way to get respect, and perhaps restore trust before it’s irretrievable. Still, the order of magnitude of the mistakes so many business leaders made, and their devastating consequences, will put these truisms to a test. For example:
“My great regret,” he [Robert E. Rubin, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and now former advisor to Citigroup] added, “is that I and so many of us who have been involved in this industry for so long did not recognize the serious possibility of the extreme circumstances that the financial system faces today.”
The New York Times: Rubin Leaving Citigroup; Smith Barney for Sale
For more: http://www.housingcrisis.com/financial-crisis/cost-admission/

By: How the Common Man Sees It

How the Common Man Sees It — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:12:52 +0000

I don’t think he’s omnipotent nor central enough to the whole fiasco. I think a Fed chairman, past or present has to take the bullet this time. That may be wishful thinking on my part but by the end of the year the howls will be very loud and even the mainstream news sites are now littered with posters decrying the evils of the Fed and the credit based economy