Jamie Dimon with JP Morgan's Fine Establishment Speaks

CNN’s Richard quest in Davos speaks with JP Morgan’s CEO on the U.S. Presidential Election , taxes and the state of the economy

***Please credit CNN/Quest Means Business***

Full interview will run in Quest Means Business 1900 GMT/2000CET

TRANSCRIPT
Dimon: My gut feeling is that it’s going to be close. The candidate is not doing great. I think the candidate is going to be Mitt Romney
Quest: You think it is going to be Romney?
Dimon: That’s my personal opinion, I could be dead wrong. That’s my opinion who the Republican candidate is going to be, because I think he’s an experienced, knowledgeable, successful guy.  He clearly doesn’t like talking about himself, or his money very much, but he’ll get through that. Then you have President Obama who is also a very experienced, great campaigner, a great speech giver, but he’s lost some of the independence, some of the youth and this red state, blue state thing isn’t going to happen the same way it happened last time. So, I think the Republican campaign will be better than John McCain four years ago, so it’s possibly going to have a pretty close race. I don’t know.
Quest: You just alluded to Romney and his money. When you see the numbers, I’m aware that you obviously earn more than a buck or two yourself -  but you are the head of a bank. When you see the numbers and you see the levels of inequality, are you worried that there is an entrenchment, whether it’s in Occupy, or in civil society, the haves verses the have nots, is now becoming an entrenched view within society?
Dimon: It’s becoming an  entrenched view, but here’s the parts I agree with okay. People are angry because a lot of people in Wall Street made a lot of money as companies went down the tubes, and I agree with them. That’s a total disgrace. But look at JP Morgan we never had parachutes, we never had change of control… we’ve always risked just of results, we’ve always looked at results over a long period of time, we never had special severance packages and stuff like that, we’ve always paid a lot in stock, so a lot of new rules being promulgated, we were always doing them.
I do think we’re all better off if society gets increasingly equitable, the question we’ve got to deal with is, how do you do that?  And I’ll mention just two: one is progressive taxation, which you know we are very much in favour of; the second we have got to do a better job at giving people better opportunities.  In the United States, half the kids in inner city schools don’t graduate, that’s the biggest sin we made in our country. Right there.
Quest: If you were to discover that your effective tax rate was 15%, what would you say?
Dimon: I’d be surprised. In the United States, if you earn money, like waged income, that’s taxed, for me, 35% plus other ten-state local. Dividends and capital gains are 15. I have some of that but most is waged income. But I think people that pay taxes, pay taxes under the law, I’m not saying it’s right, I think we should probably change some of those rules. I’m not sure about the buffer rule but I believe in progressive taxation.
Quest: Where on the curve of recovery do you think we are at the moment?
Dimon: Right here, but I want to say, it’s a really complex job, I think they’re going to get ahead of it. The one thing that I would hope for is that I wish people collaborated more, you know, business, regulators, governments. It’s completely obvious to me that governments, banks, we’re all acting at counter purposes. I was in Berlin and the government, the ECB was saying lend more money and do all these things, and the regulators and examiners and boards are saying, don’t have any more exposure in Europe, what would you want?
Quest: That’s an important point isn’t it?
Dimon: We could do either. But you can’t do it if you’re going to be punished by regulators. I think it would be good if we all got together and said, ok what are we trying to accomplish? Because I think anything can be accomplished.

ENDS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My thoughts on this are really simple, I simply get stuck where Jamie Dimon says, "I think it would be good if we all got together and said, ok what are we trying to accomplish? Because I think anything can be accomplished."

My thought: What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Stealing homes, committing a disgrace of outlandish business practices that just shouldn't be the "normal course of business" What am I trying to accomplish??  Gosh, I don't know Jamie Dimon, why don't you pick up the god damn phone and get on the horn to my lawyer and explain why you are doing this? It has been 11 months now, and with each passing day your company refuses to communicate. I did however receive a lovely bill/invoice from your attorneys though, and they have acknowledged that I exist...so I can pay their fees...so where is the miscommunication here??  YOU can't have it BOTH WAYS.

"...I think anything can be accomplished." -Jamie Dimon    Yeah? How about you walk over to that thing that rings off the hook all day, it's called a phone...and figure out what you are going to do about this mess, and I'm going to be staying here in my home and hold my breath....like I have been doing for 11 long stressful, horrifying, threatening, and exhausting 11 months.

"...I would hope for is that I wish people collaborated more, you know, business, regulators, governments."-Jamie Dimon

REALLY???  Yeah, I hoped that too....like months ago, now you are putting me directly in front of a firing squad of the court system, regulators, and lawyers.  How about you take that file that is on "unofficial" hold and read it, and you tell me why you won't talk to me. I've said before and quite publicly that we all make mistakes, all I have wanted through this whole process is to get someone to talk to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, now I just want you to release the deed, I don't want to get in bed with you, I don't want to be promised or go through the false hope of loan modification, that ship has sailed....I don't want to come home from work only to find a eviction note on MY HOME without a 120, like poor Jennifer up in Montrose County, or worse be like Jeff, that you put though the loan modification, approved him, and he made his payments and then after the three month period, you just didn't communicate with him anymore and took the home that he and his father built, and you refused his cure payments in FULL...What a racket??

I don't want to be associated with you, there is a reason that the moment I mention "chase bank" there are groans. People are horrified that you can just get away with all of this, but alas, you have  gotten away with much worse...haven't you? To date, more of my neighbors have moved their mortgages from you...gosh I wish that were an option for me, but you have me tied up pretty tightly in your red tape, and stuck in this bureaucratic holding pattern.

Should I make you one of my silver Moral Compass Necklaces? Cause you could use one, I think that yours has been lost, perhaps I could make them for everyone in your company, because they seem to missing theirs too.  I would be more than happy to do that for you,  thank you, for teaching me the lesson that I was extremely naive, a sitting duck, and totally braindamaged to believe that sure you would have to talk me, I didn't think that it was too much to ask for?? Obviously, I was very wrong.

Now, Now I'm just very frustrated, and the more shenanigans you pull, the deeper I will dig my heels in.