Outsider Clinton’s Picks Criticized as Too Inside : Administration: Two of his choices for economic posts are powerful Wall Street executives. Their knowledge is rich. So is their net worth.

From his now-famous bus trips to his penchant for eating at McDonald’s, Bill Clinton campaigned for President as a champion of the common man.

Running through his populist credo was an almost evangelical vow to turn the money changers out of the temple of national life and end what he portrayed as a decade of profligate business and economic policy.

Clinton also called on the federal government to take a tougher stand toward U.S. trading partners, including Japan and Latin America, to compel them to be more responsive to this country’s interests.

Now, as Clinton prepares to assume power, he has named to his economic team two prominent Wall Street executives whose experience gives them an insider’s knowledge of the kinds of financial activities Clinton believes sapped the nation’s economic vitality by diverting precious resources from productive investment, and whose firms are partly owned by Japanese financial interests.

Robert E. Rubin, who will coordinate policy as chairman of the new National Economic Council, was co-chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co., the most profitable investment bank in America, and specialized in corporate mergers and takeovers.

Roger Altman, selected to run daily operations at the Treasury Department as deputy secretary under Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.), is vice chairman of the Blackstone Group, a politically connected New York investment bank.

The choices were clearly made to emphasize that Clinton wants to carry out his economic agenda without unsettling the financial markets. And on Wall Street, the appointments were generally greeted enthusiastically.

But some liberals and critics of Wall Street questioned whether the two financial executives, both multimillionaires, really share the values Clinton espouses.

For example, Tom Schlesinger, director of the Southern Finance Project, a research center in Charlotte, N.C., specializing in financial issues, and others have noted that Rubin’s firm has been deeply involved in the aftermath of the savings and loan debacle, buying up huge chunks of commercial property the government inherited from failed thrifts at fire sale prices.

On the other hand, supporters of the selections argue that Rubin’s and Altman’s knowledge of the system enhances their ability to help engineer the changes Clinton seeks. And U.S. history has many examples of wealthy families, including the Kennedys and Rockefellers, who held social concerns similar to Clinton’s.

Dee Dee Myers, Clinton’s press secretary, rejected critics’ suggestions that Rubin and Altman were in any way incongruous choices for Clinton. She also said they agreed to sever relations with their firms.

Rubin, 54, is seen as one of Clinton’s most liberal appointees. His estimated earnings last year were $15 million, and he has personal wealth of between $50 million and $100 million and an apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan. He met Clinton in his role as a Democratic contributor.

Altman, 46, has spent most of his career on Wall Street, although he served as an assistant Treasury secretary in the Jimmy Carter Administration. He has known Clinton since they were classmates at Georgetown University.

Rubin and Altman are linked in business through BRW Inc., a joint venture between Goldman, Sachs, the Blackstone Group and the J. E. Robert Co., an asset management firm. Since its formation a year ago, BRW has emerged as one of the biggest buyers of commercial real estate that the government took over from failed thrifts, according to a study by the Southern Finance Project.

The study said BRW has acquired more than $65-million worth of property for $39.8 million, about 61 cents on the dollar. The property was bought from the Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency handling disposal of the assets of insolvent thrifts.

The RTC has been criticized in Congress and elsewhere for selling off its property inventory too fast and too cheap, leaving a bigger hole for the taxpayers to make up in the final cost of the S&L; bailout.

The Southern Finance study of the RTC’s first three years of operation found that it sold property for an average of 55 cents on the dollar.

The RTC has defended its strategy as the most economical way to dispose of assets acquired through the seizure of more than 600 thrifts.

“We’re selling for what the market is willing to pay for this stuff, and it also happens to be what private sellers are recovering too,” said Stephen Katsanos, an RTC spokesman.

In the case of BRW, Schlesinger questioned the RTC’s relationship with Blackstone and Goldman, Sachs. Both firms have received fees for advising the agency on various deals at the same time they have been major customers, according to the Southern Finance study.

“It is an incestuous environment, where the companies that make up BRW are simultaneously playing different sides of the S&L; bailout,” said Schlesinger.

Spokesmen for Rubin and Altman said the men were too busy to respond to questions. Blackstone’s president, Stephen A. Schwarzman, did not return telephone calls.

A Goldman, Sachs spokesman said the BRW purchases did not pose a conflict of interest because the firm’s advice to the RTC was on completely unrelated deals. He said the purchases were made at open auctions.

“Everyone has the same information, and we don’t find that having been an adviser on another deal has given us any advantage,” the spokesman said.

In his new job, Rubin will coordinate economic policy between all federal agencies, which is likely to give him an oversight role in the S&L; bailout.

The Treasury Department heads the RTC oversight committee, and Altman’s predecessor as deputy secretary has been involved in structuring the S&L; bailout.

Earlier this year, Goldman, Sachs was criticized for its role in a transaction involving City Savings of Somerset, one of the largest thrifts to fail in New Jersey.

Last year, the RTC tried to entice a buyer for City Savings deposits and branches by offering the right to also buy $3-billion worth of mortgages from the RTC inventory. The mortgages could be resold at a guaranteed profit.

City Savings was acquired by another bank, which in turn sold the right to buy the mortgages to Goldman, Sachs. But it turned out the RTC did not have that many mortgages in its inventory.

The Times reported last March that the RTC and Goldman, Sachs negotiated an alternative that gave the Wall Street firm the right to pick $3 billion in loans from other failed thrifts.

Critics within the RTC said the deal amounted to a windfall for the firm that could add $150 million to the bailout bill. The agency defended the arrangement and in a later letter to The Times said: “Far from being a burden on taxpayers, this transaction represents a fair and equitable deal on their behalf.”

Yet Katsanos said the RTC and Goldman, Sachs negotiated a new deal after the story appeared. He said Goldman, Sachs agreed to accept $1 billion in loans and got the right to be lead underwriter for two future RTC securities deals.

The RTC estimates the two securities deals will earn Goldman, Sachs $8 million to $12 million in fees.

Along with the partnership in BRW, the Blackstone Group and Goldman, Sachs have something else in common with each other, as well as with several other Wall Street firms: They are partly owned by Japanese interests.

In 1986, Sumitomo Bank acquired rights to 12.5% of Goldman, Sachs profits for 10 years in exchange for a $500-million investment. Nikko Securities owns 20% of the Blackstone Group, which has served as investment banker for many Japanese acquisitions of American firms.

A 1988 advertisement in a Japanese newspaper pictured Altman and other partners of Blackstone Group and highlighted its role in such deals as Sony’s acquisition of CBS Records. It also proclaimed the firm’s expertise in the U.S. “legal and political environment.”

Clinton has said he will impose ethics guidelines on his appointees that include a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign governments.

The ban would not cover business transactions, although Clinton has indicated that he may expand the rules later if necessary.