Finally, somebody is going after Robert Rubin and his part in the current rapid destruction of our financial system. Surprisingly, it’s the Wall Street Journal. Less surprisingly, Rubin has a litany of excuses:

Under fire for his role in the near-collapse of Citigroup Inc., Robert Rubin said its problems were due to the buckling financial system, not its own mistakes, and that his role was peripheral to the bank’s main operations even though he was one of its highest-paid officials. “Nobody was prepared for this,” Mr. Rubin said in an interview.

Sure, nobody was prepared! Except for all those people who were warning about the coming crisis for years before it happened! Since 1999, Rubin was paid, not counting stock options, $115 million by Citi! Presumably, he was paid that much to help Citi avoid bankruptcy.

Today, the United States’ political and economic systems are stuffed to the gills with people of two types: those who immediately and effectively blame others, and the fools who let them get away with it. Rubin is a prime example of the first type, and things will not get better until we all stop being the second type. This is why I have little hope for the incoming Obama administration. So far, he is staffing his economic team with people who were complicit in the current destruction. More of the same is not going to work, and that is all that Obama’s team is offering.

For more on Rubin, see Rubin Agonistes, and Mirabile Dictu! Rubin Takedown by the Wall Street Journal.