Clinton Says He Got Wrong Advice on Derivatives

Former PresidentBill Clinton said his Treasury SecretariesRobert Rubin and Lawrence Summerswere wrong in the advice they gave him about regulating derivatives when he was in office.

“I think they were wrong and I think I was wrong to take” their advice, Clinton said on ABC’s “This Week” program.

Their argument was that derivatives didn’t need transparency because they were “expensive and sophisticated and only a handful of people will buy them and they don’t need any extra protection,” Clinton said. “The flaw in that argument was that first of all, sometimes people with a lot of money make stupid decisions and make it without transparency.”