Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American retired banking executive, lawyer, and former government official. He served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

. Before his government service, he spent 26 years at

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

, eventually serving as a member of the board and co-chairman from 1990 to 1992. Rubin is credited as a major force behind Clinton-era economic prosperity, including the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act and

Balanced Budget Act of 1997 The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 () was an omnibus legislative package enacted by the United States Congress, using the budget Reconciliation (U.S. Congress), reconciliation process, and designed to balance the federal budget by 2002. This act wa ...

. However, critics of Rubin have since argued that the bank-friendly policies he supported contributed to the financial crisis of 2007–2008. As of 2022, Rubin is active in several organizations, including as a co-founder of The Hamilton Project, as co-chair emeritus of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

, and as a senior counselor at Centerview Partners.

Early life and education

Rubin was born on August 29, 1938, in New York City to Jewish parents Sylvia (née Seiderman) and Alexander Rubin. He moved to

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

, at an early age and graduated from Miami Beach High School. In 1960, Rubin graduated with an A.B. ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' in economics from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

. He then attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

for three days before leaving to see the world. He later attended the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

and received an LL.B. from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

in 1964.

Early career

Rubin was an attorney at the firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City from 1964 to 1966 before joining

in 1966 as an associate in the risk arbitrage department. He later served as co- chief operating officer, and became co-senior partner and co-chairman in 1990. Rubin served as New York finance chairman for the

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesot ...

presidential campaign in 1984 and headed the host committee for the 1992

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

in New York. He served on the board of directors of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Market Oversight and Financial Services Advisory Committee, and advisory panels for New York Gov.

Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...

and Mayor David Dinkins.

Clinton administration

From January 25, 1993, to January 10, 1995, Rubin served in the White House as Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. In that capacity, he directed the National Economic Council, which

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

created after winning the presidency. The National Economic Council, or NEC, enabled the White House to coordinate closely the workings of the Cabinet departments and agencies on policies ranging from budget and tax to international trade and alleviating poverty. The NEC coordinated policy recommendations going into the President's office, and monitored implementation of the decisions that came out. Robert S. Strauss credited Rubin with making the system work. "He's surely the only man or woman in America that I know who could make the NEC succeed," Strauss said in 1994. "Anyone else would have been a disruptive force, and the council wouldn't have worked."

1993 Deficit Reduction Act

Rubin encouraged Clinton to focus on deficit reduction and he was "one of the chief architects" of Clinton's 1993 Deficit Reduction Act plan. Supporters said the Act helped create the late 1990s budget surplus and strong economic growth, while opponents noted it raised taxes. As officials deliberated the deficit reduction plan, Rubin advocated for tax increases on those in the upper-income tax bracket. ''The Baltimore Sun'' said that the budget deal "was critical" and "convinced nervous bond traders that the new Democratic president was serious about the deficit, lowering long-term interest rates, spurring economic growth and, ultimately, helping to balance the budget."

Secretary of the Treasury

Clinton nominated Rubin as Treasury secretary in December 1994. On January 10, 1995, Rubin was sworn in as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury after the U.S. Senate confirmed him in a 99-0 vote. Rubin's tenure with the Clinton administration, especially as the head of Treasury, was marked by economic prosperity in the U.S. Rubin is credited as one of the main individuals behind U.S. economic growth, creating near full-employment and bullish stock markets while avoiding inflation. From the time he joined the White House until he announced his resignation from Treasury in 1999, U.S. unemployment fell from 6.9 percent to 4.3 percent; the U.S. budget went from a $255 billion deficit to a $70 billion surplus, and inflation fell. Rubin was succeeded in early July 1999 as Treasury secretary by his deputy,

Lawrence Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pr ...

. According to ''CNN Money'', Rubin was "one of the architects of the Clinton administration's economic policy, and is often credited—along with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan—for the booming eight-year economic expansion, the second-longest in U.S. history". Senator

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( born October 4, 1946)

1990s international crises

Upon being sworn into office as Treasury secretary in January 1995, Rubin was confronted with the Mexican peso crisis, which threatened to result in Mexico defaulting on its foreign obligations. President

, with the advice of Rubin and Greenspan, provided $20 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to the Mexican government through the

Exchange Stabilization Fund The Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) is an emergency reserve fund of the United States Treasury Department, normally used for foreign exchange intervention. This arrangement (as opposed to having the central bank intervene directly) allows the US ...

. Mexico recovered and the U.S. Treasury made a $580 million profit as a result of the loan agreement. In 1997 and 1998, Rubin, Greenspan, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Summers worked with the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster gl ...

and others to promote U.S. policy in response to financial crises in Russian, Asian, and Latin American financial markets. On the cover of its February 15, 1999 edition, ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on M ...

'' dubbed the three policymakers "The Committee to Save the World".

Balanced budget agreement

Early in the Clinton administration, Rubin touted a balanced budget and a strong dollar as a way for the Fed to lower interest rates. He also argued that a balanced federal budget's broad benefits to society outweighed concerns that one group could benefit more than others. Rubin was the Clinton administration's chief negotiator with a Republican-controlled Congress on the balanced-budget deal. The

has been referred to as the "capstone" of Rubin's tenure as Treasury secretary.

Regulation of derivatives

In 1998, Rubin and

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

chairman Alan Greenspan opposed giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversight of over-the-counter credit derivatives when this was proposed by Brooksley Born, then head of the CFTC. Rubin and other senior officials recommended Congress relieve the CFTC of regulatory authority over derivatives in November 1999. Over-the-counter credit derivatives were eventually excluded from regulation by the CFTC by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. According to a PBS '' Frontline'' report, derivatives played a key role in the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

Arthur Levitt Jr. Arthur Levitt Jr. (born February 3, 1931) is the former Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He served from 1993 to 2001 as the twenty-fifth and longest-serving chairman of the commission. Widely hailed as a ...

, a former chairman of the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against mark ...

, has said in explaining Rubin's strong opposition to the regulations proposed by Born that Greenspan and Rubin were "joined at the hip on this. They were certainly very fiercely opposed to this and persuaded me that this would cause chaos."Goodman, Peter S. (October 8, 2008)
"Taking Hard New Look at a Greenspan Legacy"
''The New York Times''. However, in Rubin's autobiography, he notes that he believed derivatives could pose significant problems and that many people who used derivatives did not fully understand the risks they were taking. In 2008, ''The New York Times'' reported that the proposal in 1997 would not have improved oversight of derivatives. Rubin said the financial system "could benefit from better regulation of derivatives". However, "the politics would have made this impossible," he said. Rubin said he had been concerned about derivatives' potential to create systemic risk since his time at Goldman Sachs. In an interview on ''ABCs '' This Week'' program in April 2010, former President Clinton said Rubin was wrong in the advice he gave him not to regulate derivatives, which was by then seen as one of the underlying causes of the 2007–08 financial crisis. Clinton adviser Doug Band later said Clinton "inadvertently conflated an analysis he received on a specific derivatives proposal with then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's arguments against any regulation of derivatives". He said Clinton still wished he had pursued legislation to regulate derivatives while confirming that he still believed he had received excellent advice on the economy and the financial system from Rubin and others during his presidency.

Urban policy

Rubin was a leading advocate for investment in distressed rural and urban communities in the Clinton administration, from his time with the NEC, leading the effort to expand the Community Reinvestment Act, to his time at Treasury, where he advocated for more community development financial institutions (CDFI) to invest in inner cities and increase the CDFI Fund. Addressing the needs of the urban poor was a top priority for Rubin during his tenure in the Clinton administration. Rubin also assisted with the Clinton administration's plan to increase

empowerment Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...

and enterprise zones across the U.S. The initiative offered tax breaks for businesses investing in those zones.

The
Decline of the Glass-Steagall Act Decline may refer to: Decadence, involves a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, or skill over time Decline (song), "Decline" (song), 2017 song by Raye and Mr Eazi *The Decline (EP), ''The Decline'' (EP), an EP by NOFX ...

As Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin was on the record for stating that the Glass-Steagall Act was obsolete and outdated, and indeed its provisions had become less effective over time. However, it was not until the late 1990s that the Congress and the Clinton administration finally came round to repealling the act. This resulted in part from lobbying pressure exercized by Sanford I. Weill on Congress and the White House to repeal the Act, and so allow the mega-merger he had organized between Travelers Group and Citicorp in 1998 to stand. Rubin resigned from the Clinton administration in July 1999. In October 1999, Rubin joined the leadership at Citigroup. Glass–Steagall was eventually repealed by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act under Rubin's successor, Lawrence Summers, and was signed by Clinton in November 1999.

Post-government career

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Upon leaving the Clinton administration, Rubin joined the board of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the nation's leading community development support organization, as chairman. Reflecting on his decision to join an institution devoted to bringing economic activity to neglected areas of the country, the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' said the following in an editorial: "Even before he became Bill Clinton's treasury secretary, during his days as a high-powered Wall Street executive, Rubin was passionate about fostering business investment as the way to fight poverty in depressed city and rural areas. That made him somewhat unusual among Democrats, who generally emphasized government anti-poverty programs."

Citigroup

Rubin joined

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

in 1999 as chairman of the executive committee of the board. In 2001,

Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional compani ...

, a major client of Citigroup, faced a credit ratings downgrade as a result of the

Enron scandal The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal involving Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Upon being publicized in October 2001, the company declared bankruptcy and its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen then ...

. Rubin called a ranking Treasury Department official, unsuccessfully seeking the Bush Administration's help in forestalling the downgrade. A subsequent staff investigation by the Senate Governmental Affairs committee cleared Rubin of having done anything illegal. Rubin later maintained that he had acted both as a Citigroup executive protecting his company's position and as a former Treasury official concerned about the impact that Enron's failure might have on the larger economy. Rubin rejected criticisms of a possible conflict of interest and has said that if faced with the same choice, he would do it again. Rubin briefly became chairman of Citigroup's board of directors from November 2007 to December 2007. According to ''The New York Times'', Rubin's role at Citigroup focused on meeting with clients and government and business leaders, bringing in business, and serving as a sounding board to bank leadership. As the ''Times'' reported in 2007, Rubin "has said publicly since he came to Citigroup in 1999 that he had no interest in running the bank". ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported Rubin joined Citigroup as a board member and as a participant "in strategic managerial and operational matters of the Company, but ..no line responsibilities". The newspaper called this mix of oversight and management responsibilities "murky". Following the 2008 financial crisis, critics argued Rubin increased risk-taking at Citigroup, thereby exposing the bank to greater losses, and that economic policies he promoted as Treasury secretary exacerbated the situation. According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', Rubin has stated that "he wasn't alone in failing to foresee the severity of the crisis that would emerge". Other industry observers criticized the lack of clarity about Rubin's role within the bank. The federal government spent $45 billion to acquire a stake in Citigroup in 2008 through the

Troubled Asset Relief Program The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President ...

. Citigroup repaid $20 billion of the bailout money in December 2009 and the Treasury sold its remaining stake one year later, for a total net profit of $12 billion. In December 2008, investors filed a lawsuit contending that Citigroup executives, including Rubin, sold shares at inflated prices while concealing the firm's risks. Citigroup settled the lawsuit in 2012, paying $590 million to claimants and denying any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. Rubin resigned from Citigroup in 2009. Between 1999 and 2009, Rubin received total compensation, including employee stock options, of $126 million from Citigroup."Rethinking Bob Rubin From Goldman Sachs Star to Crisis Scapegoat"

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...

His compensation was criticized, with writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb noting that Rubin "collected more than $120 million in compensation from Citibank in the decade preceding the banking crash of 2008. When the bank, literally insolvent, was rescued by the taxpayer, he didn't write any check—he invoked uncertainty as an excuse." In 2010, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission interviewed Rubin as part of their investigation into the causes of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and concluded that Rubin "may have violated the laws of the United States in relation to the financial crisis" related to his role at Citigroup. The commission unanimously voted to refer him to the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

for further investigation; however, the DOJ did not pursue any further investigation or actions against Rubin.

Other work

In 2001, Rubin received an honorary doctoral degree from Harvard University, and on July 1, 2002, he became a member of Harvard Corporation, the executive governing board of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He served as a member of the Harvard Corporation board until June 2014 and continues to serve on its finance committee. Rubin has written a memoir, ''In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington'' (), co-written by Jacob Weisberg. It was a ''New York Times'' bestseller as well as one of ''

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

''s ten best business books of 2003. Rubin had been suggested as a possible appointee to a cabinet post for President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

. Rubin, alongside Austan Goolsbee and

Paul Volcker Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended th ...

, was one of Obama's economic advisers. In January 2014, Secretary Rubin joined former Senator Olympia Snowe, former Education Secretary Donna Shalala, former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Henry Cisneros, Gregory Page the Chair of Cargill, and Al Sommer, the Dean Emeritus of the Bloomberg School of Public Health as members of the U.S. Climate Risk Committee. They oversaw the development of an analysis of the economic risks of climate change in the United States that was published on June 24, 2014. In an address at the Climate Leadership Conference on March 4, 2015, Mr. Rubin spoke about the economic effects of climate change and the costs of inaction. Calling climate change "the existential threat of our age," he called for the adoption of three proposals – revising estimates of the Gross Domestic Product to reflect climate change externalities, disclosure to investors by companies of the costs of carbon they emit that they might be required to absorb, and including in the U.S. government's fiscal projections the future costs of dealing with climate change – to help catalyze a more active response to climate change risks. He first outlined the proposals in a Washington Post op-ed column titled "How Ignoring Climate Change Could Sink the U.S. Economy." In April 2016, he was one of eight former Treasury secretaries who called on the United Kingdom to remain a member of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

ahead of the June 2016 Referendum. As of 2020, Rubin is actively engaged as a founder of The Hamilton Project, an economic policy think tank that produces research and proposals on how to create a growing economy that benefits more

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Amer ...

. He is co-chairman emeritus of the

. Rubin also serves as chairman of the board of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a community development support organization. He serves as a trustee of Mount Sinai Health System. Additionally, Rubin serves as a senior counselor at Centerview Partners, an investment banking advisory firm based in New York City. And he has been member of the advisory board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Personal life

Rubin and his wife, Judith O. Rubin, have two grown sons together, James Rubin (not to be confused with the former diplomat and journalist

James Rubin James Phillip Rubin (born March 28, 1960) is an American former diplomat and journalist who served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the Clinton Administration from 1997–2000. He wrote a regular column on foreign aff ...

who served under President Clinton), and Philip Rubin. The Rubins were long time members of Temple Beth Sholom on Miami Beach.

References

Sources

The White House - Office of the Press Secretary

External links

Profile
at

* * * * * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubin, Robert Chairs of the Council on Foreign Relations 1938 births 20th-century American politicians Alumni of the London School of Economics Jewish American bankers American chief executives American chief operating officers Businesspeople from New York City Chairmen of Goldman Sachs Citigroup people Clinton administration cabinet members Harvard Law School alumni Harvard College alumni Living people Jewish American members of the Cabinet of the United States Presidential Citizens Medal recipients United States Secretaries of the Treasury Yale Law School alumni People associated with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Politicians from New York City

Early life and education

Early career

Clinton administration

1993 Deficit Reduction Act

Secretary of the Treasury

1990s international crises

Balanced budget agreement

Regulation of derivatives

Urban policy

The
Decline of the Glass-Steagall Act Decline may refer to: Decadence, involves a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, or skill over time Decline (song), "Decline" (song), 2017 song by Raye and Mr Eazi *The Decline (EP), ''The Decline'' (EP), an EP by NOFX ...

Post-government career

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Citigroup

Other work

Personal life

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links

Early life and education

Early career

Clinton administration

1993 Deficit Reduction Act

Secretary of the Treasury

1990s international crises

Balanced budget agreement

Regulation of derivatives

Urban policy

The Decline of the Glass-Steagall Act Decline may refer to: *Decadence, involves a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, or skill over time *Decline (song), "Decline" (song), 2017 song by Raye and Mr Eazi *The Decline (EP), ''The Decline'' (EP), an EP by NOFX ...

Post-government career

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Citigroup

Other work

Personal life

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links

The
Decline of the Glass-Steagall Act Decline may refer to: Decadence, involves a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, or skill over time Decline (song), "Decline" (song), 2017 song by Raye and Mr Eazi *The Decline (EP), ''The Decline'' (EP), an EP by NOFX ...