JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Thinks the U.S. Would Be Growing Faster, If Only...
"If [the U.S.] did things right, we would be growing at 3%," JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) - Get Report CEO Jamie Dimon said at CNBC and Institutional Investor's Delivering Alpha conference in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
"We're growing at 2% in spite of the policy we have," Dimon said, citing regulation, the corporate tax rate, losing top educated workers to other countries, low labor force participation and other factors as weights on growth.
As for his role in policymaking, Dimon doesn't look through a partisan lens. Rather, he approaches Washington by way of Wall Street.
"If business doesn't get involved it leaves a huge vacuum" in policy, Dimon added. He's been a member of the Business Roundtable for more than 10 years, and recently became the chair.
Dimon is a major proponent of rooting for the President regardless of whether you cast a vote for him. He would be a "traitor" if he announced he hoped for the worst for the President, the businessman said.
Dimon asserted that President Trump's recent decision to disband his CEO councils wasn't nearly as big of a deal as investors might have thought.
"Most presidents have a council and they usually have a limited life," Dimon said. As for Trump's, following racially charged riots in Charlottesville, "it became more of a distraction than necessary," Dimon said.
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On the issue of deregulation, Dimon clarified that moves toward a less regulated Wall Street aren't designed to only help the bankers there.
"What we're talking about is calibration," Dimon said. There's no move to go backward on a binary track, Dimon added, but rather to calibrate regulation for the whole country and not for specific entities.
When prompted to comment on Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC) - Get Report string of scandals over the past two years, Dimon was every part the diplomat.
"I never find joy in problems other people have," Dimon said, but JPMorgan has studied the scandal to make sure it doesn't happen to it as well. "This is a 'we learn' lesson," not an 'I learn' lesson.
As for Equifax Inc. (EFX) - Get Report , Dimon said he "isn't surprised" it happened, because cyber security is a "big deal." It could happen elsewhere and "we don't even know about it," Dimon said.
He clarified that Equifax isn't totally a victim. It would be as if he got a vault, closed it, but never twisted the lock. He wouldn't invite a robber to steal what's his, but he wouldn't be protecting against it.
Even amid cyber security concerns, "banks in the United States are very sound," Dimon said. "Banks are very healthy ... in capital, in liquidity."
After comments early Tuesday calling bitcoin a fraud, Dimon clarified, separating blockchain the technology from bitcoin the currency -- currencies are the issue, not technology, Dimon said.
"I'm not saying go short," Dimon said. "It's not advice on what you do...[bitcoin is] just not a real thing," Dimon said.
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