JP Morgan Chase CEO Is A Chameleon And A Snake

The Jamie Dimon Apology Tour is in full swing.

Perhaps you caught the first stop on this weekend’s Meet the Press. The chairman of JP Morgan Chase is trying to play us for suckers, publicly apologizing for his bank’s $2 billion loss.

He called it an “egregious mistake”. He claims he want to get rid of “Too Big To Fail”, and that he supported “portions” of the Dodd-Frank rule.

It might be one of the best acting performances I’ve seen all year. I think his chances of taking home an Oscar are all but guaranteed.

Maybe he had David Gregory fooled, (The NBC host’s lack of tough follow-up questions would seem to indicate it) but I am not buying it.

The reality is had JP Morgan not lobbied so hard against Dodd-Frank, and paid the lobbyists as much as they did, Dodd-Frank would have been much, much tougher, and Dimon would have $2 billion more in his coiffures.

It’s irony in its purest form.

This loss, which came on some very risky trades, is a perfect symbol of Wall Street’s hubris and greed. And it just goes to show you that the big banks have learned nothing from the crisis of years past.

And neither has Dimon. His apology on Meet The Press was the vocal equivalent of crocodile tears. He is another Chameleon, another Two-Face, putting on a public show for the masses, while privately lambasting anyone who is really looking to end “Too Big To Fail” when he thinks we are not paying attention.

I have to give credit to Gretchen Morgenson and the New York Times for helping expose Dimon as a hypocrite. Just a month ago, at a dinner for some JP Morgan’s wealthiest clients in Dallas, the Times reports Dimon attacked two men who are really trying to bring the banks back down to a manageable size.

One of them is Paul Volcker, the ex-chairman of the Federal Reserve, whose Volcker Rule could have very well prevented JP Morgan from engaging in the type of risky investments that lost them the $2 billion in the first place.

The 2nd is Richard Fisher, president of The Dallas Fed, whose annual report I praised here, who has openly called for a break-up of the big banks, like JP Morgan Chase.

Dimon called the men’s arguments against the large banks “infantile” and “nonfactual”, and Morgenson alleges he further lambasted Fisher, to the shock of many of the guests.

Dimon will be in Tampa tomorrow for JP Morgan’s annual shareholders meeting, and it’s a shame most have already placed their votes, because if they had not, I’m sure they would reconsider approving Dimon’s lofty salary.

Dimon must really think we are suckers if thinks we will accept his phony apology. He is still trying to save face and present JP Morgan Chase as a healthy company, but if you think this $2 billion loss is an isolated incident, think again.

The big banks have made tons of bets simply to increase its bottom line, it’s just this time they were exposed reaching into the cookie jar yet again. Except this time there weren’t any cookies for them to grab.

Maybe this loss will not have a lasting impact on our financial markets, but the next one very well might. And that is why the average American needs to be paying attention to these types of risky bets.

The next bad bet could be ten times bigger, and could drag down the entire economy with it, creating a systemic collapse far worse than anything we’ve seen to date.

It will most certainly happen again if the government does not reel them in. I think people are ultimately going to put their faith in government regulation, there simply is no other way of dealing with this. And it is the legislature’s job to do so.

Our government must step up. Last week Republicans shot down a bill that would have fully funded Eric Schneiderman’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force. Just as with the original version of Dodd-Frank, the tools were set into motion, but have not come to fruition.

If the rug keeps being pulled out from meaningful regulation, they will never have the tools to pursue vindication and justice.

From The Trenches,

Roy Oppenheim