Rubin, Weill, Pandit, Prince: Many to Blame for Citi Debacle, None Owning Up

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit appeared on The Charlie Rose Show last night, where he steadfastly declined to take responsibility for the firm's predicament.

"As I got into this job about 11 months ago, I came in with a set of assets were which unduly concentrated against the U.S. residential market, and we have been working down steadily," Pandit said, effectively laying the blame at the feet of his predecessor Chuck Prince.

Prince, who became CEO of Citigroup in 2003 and then chairman in 2006, certainly deserves a share of the blame for the company's use of leverage and other decisions that ultimately left the bank at the mercy of the U.S. government.

But as with any debacle of this magnitude, there's plenty of blame to go around.

What about Sandy Weil, the architect of Citi's "supermarket" strategy and the man who handpicked Prince to succeed him?

Then there's board member and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who has received over $100 million in compensation from Citi in 10-plus years, according to the New York Post.

"I don't feel responsible, in light of the facts as I knew them in my role," Rubin told the New York Times back in April. "In hindsight, there are a lot of things we'd do differently. But in the context of the facts as I knew them and my role, I'm inclined to think probably not."

Rubin is one of several directors, including current chairman Sir Win Bischoff, who've been on Citi's board for at least 10 years, the WSJ notes.

To this point, not one of the directors has been fired, stepped down or even had the decency to apologize to shareholders or U.S. taxpayers.

Yep, there's billions of losses at Citi but no one willing to take any responsibility.

What a country! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!