The Street put out an article today with a headline: ‘Jamie Dimon’s Best Friend: Elizabeth Warren,’ but nowhere in the article is Warren mentioned.
But there was one great quote from the “most pugnacious banking industry CEO”:
“I have a great fear someone’s going to try to write a book in 20 years, and the book is going to talk about all the things we did in the middle of the crisis to actually slow down recovery,” Dimon told Bernanke, according to a rough transcript of the exchange provided by JPMorgan.
Um, maybe you should try actually reading the article. She is mentioned.
She’s mentioned at the end of the article: An article in this week’s issue of The New Yorker magazine makes the case that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) could perform a similar service for the banking industry by making consumers more comfortable about banks. Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren, who has been credited with coming up with the idea for the agency and who many Democrats in Congress would like to see appointed as its head when it opens its doors July 21, has met with fierce opposition from many Congressional Republicans, however.
How does that make Warren Jamie Dimon’s best friend? If he’s against regulation and she is for it because of the proposed positive effects on “boosting economic activity,” wouldn’t that make Warren Dimon’s enemy?
In reference to Dodd-Frank, didn’t he also say:
“Has anyone bothered to study the cumulative effect of all these things?” Dimon asked Bernanke. “Is this holding us back at this point?”
You also mention that “JPMorgan was relatively careful not to load up its balance sheet with too many risky loans.”
According to CNN, JPMorgan was one of the four major banks to take large bailout funds.
Quote from CNN story: “Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo each received $25 billion — the largest amount given to any bank.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/12/22/bailout.accountability/
The initial $135B TARP forced upon the 9 banks was simply to provide cover for CitiBank, which was toast. The reason they had to save Citi was that it is America’s only truly international bank. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan were the most vocal about not needing or wanting the Treasury Preferreds, but they went along due to the threats of Sec. Paulson. Please note that JPMorgan redeemed the Preferreds in a matter of months, as soon as the Feds deemed Citi as safe.
One can argue that the Feds did save the world financial markets when it guaranteed the money markets and commercial paper markets.
IMHO