Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., said today
“When I hear the constant vilification of corporate America, I personally don’t understand it. I would ask a lot of our folks in government to stop doing it because I think it’s hurting our country.”
Now, cheap populism is easy, and its getting a bit tired. But let’s look at this rationally.
First of all, what Mr. Dimon means is “it’s hurting the stock market,” and it’s arguable whether he has a point or not. As discussed in my last money article, it appears we’re on the inevitable downside of a massive bubble, and losses in the market probably have almost nothing to do with current government action.
Second, there have been some very real villains in corporate America in recent years, and many of them have been partially involved, in deed or in spirit, in this latest bubble-and-bust economy. If Madoff and Stanford can be prosecuted for running ponzi schemes, why not AIG, Citibank, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers?
I’m not claiming anyone’s guilty who hasn’t been proven so. But do we not have an obligation to root out and punish those who have broken the law? Shouldn’t we make an example of them?
Supposing Dimon’s right about this, and the government’s pursuit of justice for criminal behavior is hurting the stock market, I still think it’s a price worth paying.
Those whose fortunes are largely in the markets will have to tighten their belts and be patient with their investments. Meanwhile, all Americans will receive the benefits of a properly-regulated financial sector and a more secure future. On this point, even Dimon agrees. Read more at Bloomberg.
But here’s where I’m still at odds with Dimon:
“If we act like a dysfunctional family and we don’t finish these things and we’re forever debating them, I think this will go on for several years. It’s completely up to us at this point.”
Cheap populism and vilification of the rich are lazy and counter-productive, but let’s be clear: if we don’t put checks on greed, it will always come back to haunt us. This notion – that if we don’t let corporate America do what it wants without questions, and if we continue to debate how to maintain and regulate a healthy market in the years to come, it will hurt the country – is just a lazy and counter-productive excuse to continue business as usual and not make the hard changes and investments our economy needs.
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