On October 18, 1999, Citigroup announced that former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin was joining the firm. But what exactly would Mr. Rubin do at Citigroup? ...As a great man of finance, Mr. Rubin would be paid CEO money -- a total of $115 million since 1999, not including stock options -- but without having to run a business or be accountable for the results... The virtue of this arrangement for Mr. Rubin has become manifest during the current panic. While Mr. Rubin has acknowledged that he promoted the disastrous idea of exposing the bank to greater risk to boost profitability, his "no line responsibilities" job description now allows him to blame the line managers for the consequences of his ideas.

Citigroup shareholders have suffered losses of more than 70% since Mr. Rubin joined the firm. To this day, he appears unable to say what exactly he did for the $115 million that he took out of Citi. "I think I've been a very constructive part of the Citigroup environment," he recently told the Journal, in defense of his tenure. Try selling that line at your next annual performance review, especially when asking for an eight-figure salary.

RIGA, Latvia -- Hammered by economic woe, this former Soviet republic recently took a novel step to contain the crisis. Its counterespionage agency busted an economist for being too downbeat.

"All I did was say what everyone knows," says Dmitrijs Smirnovs, a 32-year-old university lecturer detained by Latvia's Security Police. The force is responsible for hunting down spies, terrorists and other threats to this Baltic nation of 2.3 million people and 26 banks.

Now free after two days of questioning, Mr. Smirnovs hasn't been charged. But he is still under investigation for bad-mouthing the stability of Latvia's banks and the national currency, the lat. Investigators suspect him of spreading "untruthful information."