Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is one of the few voices in Congress that will stand up to Wall Street, and she does a great job of it. However, JPMorgan Chase CEO and financial crook Jamie Dimon thinks she’s an idiot, reported The Huffington Post.
“I don’t know if she fully understands the global banking system,” said Dimon at a luncheon this week.
Warren taught economics at Harvard University, so it stands to reason that she knows a thing or two about banking. She’s an outspoken critic of the current banking system and also criticized the financial industry for being a boys club where women are marginalized.
She candidly recalled her adversarial interactions with Dimon in her book, A Fighting Chance.
When the conversation turned to financial regulation and Dimon began complaining about all the burdensome rules his bank had to follow, I finally interrupted. I was polite, but definite. No, I didn’t think the biggest banks were overregulated. In fact, I couldn’t believe he was complaining about regulatory constraints less than a year after his bank has lost billions in the infamous London Whale high-risk trading episode. . . .
Our exchange heated up quickly. By the time we got to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we weren’t quite shouting, but we were definitely raising our voices. . . .
Suddenly Dimon got quiet. He leaned back and slowly smiled. “So hit me with a fine. We can afford it.”
That’s the kind of contempt that the banking industry has for government regulation. The main reason for that contempt is because the Department of Justice is ran by spineless officials who protect the banks. If more bankers were thrown in jail, that might make them respect regulators a little more. Banking coffers are so deep, fines do little to control reckless, criminal bankers.
Dimon is your typical Wall Street criminal of the highest order. He should be the first to go.
