[Levin] Joe Lieberman's Cover-Up: Where is Robert Rubin?

National Review Online ^ | July 23, 2002 | Mark R. Levin

[Torie]

Yes, nosey folks that we are, we all want to know whether Rubin knew that Citicorp was hawking a product (round trip commodity prepaid purchases) that had no economic substance other than to conceal that it was the precise equivalent of a loan that could be off balance sheet (even while at the same time treating it as a loan for tax purposes to be able to take the interest deduction). Given the zip economic substance, I don't really think it is consistent with the rather pathetic rules of US GAAP as currently written. And Citicorp was hawking it to more folks than just Enron. Only Enron was corrupt enough to go for it.

This is big John, really big, bigger than anything we have seen yet. This might be a near mortal blow for Citicorp, since the liability exposure is so huge, and because this is simply too big to be shoved quietly under the rug.

Meanwhile, in two days, Citicorp has lost 27% of its value, representing 60 billion of market capitalization. I suspect Rubin's stock options have lost some value. Maybe we should pass the hat around for him.

[jwalsh07]

This is big John, really big, bigger than anything we have seen yet. This might be a near mortal blow for Citicorp, since the liability exposure is so huge, and because this is simply too big to be shoved quietly under the rug.

Yeah, that was my blue collar opinion but I wanted confirmation from an astute barrister.

If you pass the hat my way, Rubin will not appreciate it. There is an old Irish saying that goes something like this:

Go sh4t in your hat. :-}

[Torie]

Well John Lou Dobbs tonight had Senator Fitzgerald on, and he said that Citibank hedged its debt risk to Enron by selling derivatives to unsuspecting investors, so it lost nothing. He also said that your favorite senator from your state was refusing to 1) investigate anything but Enron until election time, and 2) was refusing to call Rubin or CEO Weill of Citibank as witnesses.

So my question, given the usual partisan games in the senate, is WHERE is the GOP House on this? Just curious as to whether they are curious.

[Miss Marple]

Sorry I didn't see your comment last night. I don't know what the House is doing. I will try to find out today. Of course, they could already have had Rubin testify for an entire week and the media wouldn't cover it, being so consumed with Harken and Halliburton as they are.

Thank you for your explanation of the seriousness of this situation. I and some others have felt that way, but I freely admit that I know nothing about banking and finance plus anytime I run into what appears to be Clintonian shenanigans I lose any objectivity and go immediately to volcanic rage.

[flamefront]

Enraged you should be. Consider this rpecious quote today in the NYT from Warren Buffet - the richest man alive:

Indeed, actions by Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission have the potential of creating a smoke screen that will prevent real accounting reform. The Senate itself is the major reason corporations have been able to duck option expensing. On May 3, 1994, the Senate, led by Senator Joseph Lieberman, pushed the Financial Accounting Standards Board and Arthur Levitt, then chairman of the S.E.C., into backing down from mandating that options be expensed. Mr. Levitt has said that he regrets this retreat more than any other move he made during his tenure as chairman. Unfortunately, current S.E.C. leadership seems uninterested in correcting this matter.

I don't believe in Congress setting accounting rules. But the Senate opened the floodgates in 1994 to an anything-goes reporting system, and it should close them now. Rather than holding hearings and fulminating, why doesn't the Senate just free the standards board by rescinding its 1994 action?

[Howlin]

I cannot even remember which show it was, but there was a senator who is on that same committee on who said that he personally had talked to Lieberman and that Lieberman has Enron hearings scheduled until the end of the year.

The senator asked old Joe when he was going to call in Rubin or anybody from Citicorp and he said he was NOT going to do it -- ever.

[timestax]

bump

[eureka!]

Re#66 No surprise there. My hopes is that the SEC publicly comes down hard on Citigroup and JP Morgan. They were part and parcel of the scam. As to Lieberman, *spit*. I really do loathe him and so many hypocritical 'Rats...

[alrea]

Robert Rubin may have hurt poor children; bump.

[alrea]

Mark Levin does some thing very well, particularly going after the shenanigans that the Left is pulling.

Defining "is" bump.

[eureka!]

"Robert Rubin may have hurt poor children..."

He sure helped hurt a lot of retirees and prospective retirees it seems...

[timestax]

bump

[timestax]

BUMP

[timestax]

bump

[timestax]

bump

[timestax]

bump

[timestax]

bump

[Unknown Freeper]

holdonnow bump

[timestax]

bump

[bert]

Here is Brit Hume's address....start at the top.

Special Report with Brit Hume

Special@foxnews.com