It's people like JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon who make bankers the least sympathetic people on the planet. He's complained about regulation - as in regulation that would not only save his bank, but save taxpayers billions if not trillions of dollars - and he's complained about the damage that might happen if mean Obama keeps saying bad things about bankers. All that while he raked in $17 million last year.
Well, he's back to his typical form, complaining again about how the bankers are just a bunch of hard workin' fellas that try to do the right thing. Got it?
What part of "you screwed the economy for at least a decade and cost taxpayers trillions" does Dimon not get? The unwritten deal, when they were bailed out, was that the banks would keep money flowing by lending. They didn't. They threw that free money into gambling on commodities, helping to drive up those markets and failing to hold up their end of the deal. Dimon is a prime example of why Americans hate Wall Street and support the 99% over his type.
"Acting like everyone who's been successful is bad and that everyone who is rich is bad — I just don't get it," said Dimon at the conference, which was organized by Goldman Sachs.Somehow I have a hard time believing Dimon isn't a tax loophole queen, but whatever. The tax laws are written for the 1%. And no, Americans don't hate the rich. They hate the rich who got there screwing everyone else.
Dimon said he's worked on Wall Street for much of his life and contributed his fair share.
"Most of us wage earners are paying 39.6 percent in taxes and add in another 12 percent in New York state and city taxes and we're paying 50 percent of our income in taxes," Dimon said in defense of his fellow Wall Street bankers.
