Excellent Article On Robert Rubin

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http://www.nymag.com/page.cfm?page_id=5693

-- Stephen M. Poole (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), February 09, 2002

Answers

It's pretty balanced, neither firmly assigning blame nor ignoring it. It also has a good synopsis of Enron's rise to power under Ken Lay -- and how Rubin was right smack in the middle of it.

From the article:

On November 8, though, Bob Rubin's invisible hand got that old itch. Enron's stock was in free fall, and though the energy-trading company was still far from a household name, he feared the company's bankruptcy would be a dire event. Citigroup, one of its longstanding bankers, had more than a billion dollars in loans outstanding to Enron. But Rubin had larger concerns. He had been told by his bankers working on the deal, Salomon's Carpenter and syndicated-loan head Chad Leat, that a rescue package was almost assembled. The night before, a group of the highest-level Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase bankers cobbled together a deal that would merge the fast-sinking Enron with its Houston competitor Dynegy.

But for the deal to go through, the credit-ratings agencies needed to be dissuaded from downgrading Enron's mountain of debt to junk status...

So Bob Rubin did what Bob Rubin does. On his own, without consulting Weill or anyone else, he picked up the phone and made what he thought would be the most discreet of calls to Treasury Undersecretary Peter Fisher ...

-- Stephen M. Poole (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), February 09, 2002.


I also have an éminence grise hat. It doesn't fit very well.

-- (lars@indy.net), February 09, 2002.

Stephen,

Would this be an example of "mainstream"?

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), February 09, 2002.


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