JPMorgan hit with $2 billion trading loss - would have been illegal under Volcker Rule

What do they say about karma? JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon has been an outspoken critic of Wall Street reform, often leading the torch-carrying mob in broadside attacks against Obama. It's amusing since Dimon was widely reported to have been in the final running to be Obama's Secretary of Treasury. (Not that he would have differed much from Geithner.) Even more so since Obama has been so easy on Wall Street, a point which still angers most of America. Oddly enough his kindness is not appreciated on Wall Street who still believe they are victims.

Fast forward to this week, JPMorgan is now having to put out fires allegedly caused by their own proprietary trading systems. Ah yes, the smartest guys in the room once again. What should be noted about this fall for the most arrogant CEO in an industry known for arrogance is that the trading loss of $2 billion would have been banned by the Volcker Rule that Dimon criticizes so often. More from CNBC:

The $2 billion trading loss announced by JPMorgan on Thursday as a result of a failed hedging strategy does not bear the earmarks of coming from only a “rogue” trader, and developments that follow are more likely to get worse for the Wall Street bank rather than better, Dennis Gartman, founder of The Gartman Letter, told CNBC on Friday.

"I operate under the old rule that there is never just one cockroach, when ill news comes out there is usually more ill news to follow,” the famed investor and former floor trader said.

“This clearly isn’t a rogue. This is not the same thing that happened at SocGen, by any stretch of the imagination,” said Gartman, making reference to the 2008 trading losses suffered by French Bank Societe Generale at the hands of a single trader, Jerome Kerviel.

It's really time to break apart the too-big-to-fail banks and move forward with serious reform. Of course the bankers love to gamble because if they win, they win big and if they lose, everyone else pays for it. Bankers like Dimon will continue to play the scare tactics card but this latest hideous loss should be enough to show how important regulation and reform is to the country. Forget about what's good for Dimon and the 0.0001%, it's time to think about the USA as a whole.