No wonder the position of chairman of of Citigroup's executive committee has been called "the best job in the world." Under former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin it has carried huge prestige, huger pay and -- apparently -- little accountability. Rubin has pulled down more than $100 million from the job and at the same time avoided getting slimed by the mortgage meltdown that just claimed Citi CEO and Chairman Charles Prince. Rubin's role at the banking company was only "advisory," we're told. He's not as close to the markets as he used to be. Well, what the heck were shareholders paying him for, anyway?

Prince is now out and Rubin is in as chairman while the company looks for a new CEO. But Rubin bears some of the blame for $14 billion -- $17 billion bath that Citi shareholders are taking. He was a big supporter of Prince. Less than a month ago Rubin told The New York Times: ''Some people wilt under that pressure and some people rise to it. Chuck [Prince] has handled himself very well. It has not been easy. He has kept his focus with intellectual rigor and did what he needed to do." In the same interview, Rubin said: ''I would give you long odds -- I would bet you $100 that he will be the C.E.O. at the annual meeting five years from now, and as long past that as he wants to be."

So now Rubin swoops in and again gets to play the savior, as he did when he was Treasury secretary with the Mexican debt crisis, the 1997-1998 emerging markets meltdown and the Long-Term Capital Management debacle. Except this time, he had more than a little bit to do with creating the crisis he's trying to fix.