Why Praise Rubin? He Watched Citi Crumble

Fair enough. But wasn't he saying anything behind the scenes?

On the strength of an anonymous friend, Rubin is quickly absolved of all blame:

"While Rubin is publicly behind the bank's current growth plan, he has often asked provocative questions behind the scenes, a person who has worked with him said."

Anyhoo, I thought that if the billions in progressively larger write-offs and the open season on sitting CEOs brought about any good, it was that when a man first sat down in the hot seat, he would be profiled with a bit of critical thought -- in a way that serves investors well, because it portrays reality accurately and does not let expectations get too far ahead.

But old story lines die hard. And Rubin is riding to the rescue!

As a side note, I ended Monday's article -- about banking trouble coverage -- with a series of questions. I have only done that a few times in the thousands of articles I have written -- and, here, for good reason. I'm a bit undecided about these Wall Street firms and am still making up my mind on their fate.

It's interesting, though, because the few times I've ended articles with questions, I get some complaint letters from readers. One told me that I should go back to journalism school. And sure enough, the very first thing they teach in journalism school is that journalists should answer questions, not ask them.

Of course, this is where so many errors are made, especially in the business media. In a fast-moving, multifaceted reality, it's impossible to always answer questions neatly. Sometimes you have to wait a bit. Anything else is the sort of intellectual dishonesty that frequently misleads savvy investors.