On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration as president of the United States, Wharton finance professor Richard J. Herring discussed with Knowledge at Wharton some of the advice offered to the new chief executive by the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee , a group of economists, former regulators and lawyers, of which Herring is a co-chair. In an open letter to Obama, the committee suggested that the government should quickly extract itself from the investments it made to rescue the financial system and devise a new regulatory framework for preventing future crises. Herring also assessed the deepening woes at Citigroup. Knowledge at Wharton:  Professor Herring, thank you for joining us today. Perhaps you could tell us just in a few short sentences what the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee is and what it does. Richard J.…