Treasury Secretary Who Led Deregulation Says Occupy Wall Street Has Highlighted Important Issues

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin is not considered an adversary of Big Finance, in either Washington or Wall Street. While he was in charge of the Treasury Department, he spearheaded the push for deregulating the financial sector, and he soon after took a job at Citigroup — which came into being thanks to deregulation — earning at least $15 million a year.

Yet in an interview with Reuters’ Chrystia Freeland, even Rubin admitted that Occupy Wall Street has highlighted important issues for the country to be concerned about:

FREELAND: What’s your view on Occupy Wall Street?

RUBIN: I think they’ve identified issues that are really serious social and economic issues in this country. [...] I think they’ve identified issues that are really central to what’s happening to our society and economy.

Watch it:

Robert Rubin isn’t the only unlikely person to concede the importance of addressing income inequality in the wake of Occupy Wall Street. Even Ayn Rand fan Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is now seriously addressing income inequality.