Formerly co-chairman of America's top investment bank, Goldman Sachs, Rubin now chairs the executive committee of the country's leading commercial bank, Citigroup. In between, he served as head of Bill Clinton's National Economic Council, then as treasury secretary, and he continues to be the party's preeminent economic guru. Other men have stood at the pinnacle of Wall Street. No one else has simultaneously been at the pinnacle of the Democratic Party�Read the rest to see why Kuttner finds this a troubling situation.Rubin's rise is not just personal but structural. It reflects, and reinforces, the increasing influence of finance on the American economy and polity, through both deregulated financial markets and campaign money.
Rubin's extraordinary power reflects the synergy and networking of his multiple roles -- as fund-raiser, gatekeeper, banker, certifier of fiscal soundness, and as the man reputedly responsible for the boom of the 1990s. Rubinomics, of which more shortly, is credited with balancing the budget, broadening prosperity, and redeeming the Democrats as fiscal stewards.
Rubin enjoys unparalleled reach into the overlapping worlds of corporate and Wall Street boardrooms, nonprofits, party organs, and senior Democratic politicians. The leading center-left Democratic-oriented think tank, the Center for American Progress (CAP), has Sperling as a senior fellow in economics. Despite bolder initiatives on health insurance and other issues, and some staffers to Sperling's left, CAP's core view of budget balance, regulation, and trade, are close to Rubin's. The Hamilton Project, founded by Rubin and based at the Brookings Institution, promotes free capital movements, fiscal balance, and small gestures toward greater equality. In April, Rubin will serve as honorary co-chair of the 25th anniversary gala of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the most respected liberal think tank on fiscal issues. Rubin also serves as vice chair of the Council on Foreign Relations.
It was Rubin who promoted his prot�g� Larry Summers for president of Harvard, certified Summers' supposed new maturity, and resisted Summers' ouster. Rubin is one of only seven members of the Harvard Corporation, yet characteristically, when the Summers presidency exploded, little mud splattered on Rubin. And although he no longer raises large sums for political candidates himself, Rubin remains very close to others in the Wall Street Democratic money machine, and to its party conduits, particularly Senator Chuck Schumer, who heads the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, and Representative Rahm Emanuel, Schumer's House counterpart in the 2006 campaign.
When the Democrats took back the House in 2006, incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi advised the new Democratic caucus that its first two briefings would include one on defense, with three experts of differing views. On the economy, Robert Rubin would be appearing, solo.
Also featured in this issue:
- An argument by Barry Lynn about how the modern structure and functioning of the global economy have eluded the understanding of mainstream economists;
- A debate among three Prospect writers over the merits of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate. Garance Franke-Ruta makes the Case For; Sam Rosenfeld and Matthew Yglesias co-write the Case Against;
- A major essay by Paul Starr on why liberalism works, and has over centuries;
- A critique of tax credits as "freakopolitics" by Mark Schmitt; and
- Stephen Holmes's review essay on Islam in Europe.
The rest of the issue, however, can only be read by subscribers. Are you, Tapped reader, not a subscriber? You should be. It's damned cheap -- and, well, TAP rocks.
--The Editors
