by Robert Rubin, Jacob Weisberg
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| List Price: | $35.00 |
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| Lowest New Price: | $7.18 |
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Product Description
Robert Rubin was sworn in as the seventieth U.S. Secretary of the Treasury in January 1995 in a brisk ceremony attended only by his wife and a few colleagues. As soon as the ceremony was over, he began an emergency meeting with President Bill Clinton on the financial crisis in Mexico. This was not only a harbinger of things to come during what would prove to be a rocky period in the global economy; it also captured the essence of Rubin himself--short on formality, quick to get into the nitty-gritty.
From his early years in the storied arbitrage department at Goldman Sachs to his current position as chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup, Robert Rubin has been a major figure at the center of the American financial system. He was a key player in the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. With In an Uncertain World, Rubin offers a shrewd, keen analysis of some of the most important events in recent American history and presents a clear, consistent approach to thinking about markets and dealing with the new risks of the global economy.
Rubin's fundamental philosophy is that nothing is provably certain. Probabilistic thinking has guided his career in both business and government. We see that discipline at work in meetings with President Clinton and Hillary Clinton, Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, Alan Greenspan, Lawrence Summers, Newt Gingrich, Sanford Weill, and the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan. We see Rubin apply it time and again while facing financial crises in Asia, Russia, and Brazil; the federal government shutdown; the rise and fall of the stock market; the challenges of the post-September 11 world; the ongoing struggle over fiscal policy; and many other momentous economic and political events.
With a compelling and candid voice and a sharp eye for detail, Rubin portrays the daily life of the White House-confronting matters both mighty and mundane--as astutely as he examines the challenges that lie ahead for the nation. Part political memoir, part prescriptive economic analysis, and part personal look at business problems, In an Uncertain World is a deep examination of Washington and Wall Street by a figure who for three decades has been at the center of both worlds.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 A book on decision making and policy making. Excellent., 2008-06-13
This book is by former President Clinton's Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin. Robert Rubin, was previous to his role at Treasury, co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, a position he rose to through the ranks over about twenty years. His specialty was risk arbitrage, involving multimillion decision making on placing bets or investments on whether or not a merger or acquisition would ultimately go through (or close) or not.
No matter what you think of President Clinton or his administration. Robert Rubin was a key decision maker in the economic sphere. He participated and directed policmaking in the Asian financial crisis and financial crisis in Latin America, etc.
The book is about his views on decisionmaking and the process of policymaking and is excellent. He discusses his view about "optionality" and the complexity of decisionmaking under uncertainty.
The book is excellent and I highly recommend it if you are interested in decisionmaking, policmaking, economic policy, Wall Street, and leadership.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
in an uncertain world, 2008-01-28
The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New WorldOn Money and Markets: A Wall Street Memoir
Robert Rubin's book, "In an Uncertain World," is excellent reading for individuals managing their own pensions and other financial assets. This book, Alan Greenspan's book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," and Henry Kaufman's book, "On Money and Markets," certainly rank among the best in the last few years regarding insight into how the global economies work and interact. This book also addresses insight into properly assessing global risk in general and assessing how to consider risk in marking to market for various fixed income securities.
Rubin's experience and insight in finance at Goldman Sachs and as U. S. Secretary of the Treasury is difficult to match by most financial experts.
All persons managing money would find their time well spent reading, marking, and frequently referring to this excellent and thought provoking book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
behind the scenes finance, 2008-01-24
An excellent account of the behind the scenes finance world at the Clinton White house but the author who worked there. he reveals all the comings and goings of 'maing things work' from a fiduciary standpoint. Good book
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Lacks vision, 2007-11-29
Robert Rubin traces his climb up the ladder in Wall Street and Washington DC and explains his role in significant national crises. He describes how he makes tough decisions after pondering the probabilities in the face of bewildering uncertainties. On page 48 he remebers how his grandfather was wiped out by the Florida land bust in the 1920s. A memory like that you would think would be barrier against complacency creeping in. But maybe not, unless there is another expalanation for why Citigroup put so much money into subprimes, while he was there in a position of power, and thus make it possible for the government of Abu Dhabai to come to the rescue and gain influence in such an important American Bank (what about national security?). As a public service Robert Rubin should generated a second edition of this book to bring to light the Tough Choices involved in betting those massive amounts on subprimes.
The author reveals that he leans in the direction of anti-anti-big-government (see page 160). He places more faith in government control than the power of the "invisible hand". Unlike Alan Greenspan's book "The Age of Turbulence" this book does not contain a satisfying broad vision of our capitalistic economic system.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Great for understanding the connections between Wall Street and Government, 2007-11-12
Rubin is a very smart guy and a great thinker. This book describes his years at Goldman Sachs and the bulk of it is about his time with the Clinton Administration. He gives the reader a nice window into what happens in the White House and more specifically the Treasury. He is critical of himself and humble. Autobiographies can be self-promoting, but Rubin is fair.
The middle of the book gets a bit tedious and repetitive. He describes various crises in different countries which I am sure were very important at the time but his point could have gotten across to the reader by just describing a subset of these crises. Nevertheless this is a very important book for anyone who wants to understand the workings of the Treasury better. It is interesting that Paul O'Neill, Rubin's successor, critized Rubin and the Clinton administration for being the "Chief of the Fire Department" (referring to how they bailed countries' currencies as opposed to letting the free market take care of things with little intervention). Today with crises in the housing sector and mortgages, we are seeing similar meddling by the government. It is hard to watch thousands of homeowners lose thier homes if the government can assist them somehow. Rubin predicted this behavior.
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