June 11, 2015

Jamie Dimon Doubts Elizabeth Warren “Fully Understands” Global Banking

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/afge/17036323278/in/photolist-rXrBnG-rVGULR-ri2TrY-scK667-rXzMNr-ri2NAq-seThUW-seZ6T4-rXsRVQ-seZ7Qz-riehzi-rXzM9R-rXzQTe-rVGYAp-seTfAs-rXsRzu-seZdrp-rXrG2w-ri2NDb-rXsU2d-riektz-seTgBA-sf31bk-seTm3j-scK2WS-rVGX7x-seTjJh-ri2Qty-rXsPkQ-rVGZrc-rXzPxD-rVGYiv-scK2ZC-rXrFy7-ri2QVf-riejU8-scK5yq-rXrDKs-sf355n-sf35pk-rXrHtE-rVH1pV-seTjby-rXrAXU-sf35a2-sf3482-rXrAU7-rXrEtm-seZaMB-3AhtXt">AFGE</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Jamie Dimon, the billionaire CEO of JP Morgan Chase, is concerned about Elizabeth Warren. He worries that the former Harvard Law bankruptcy professor and the senate’s loudest Wall Street critic might not grasp the complexities of high finance.

“I don’t know if she fully understands the global banking system,” Dimon said at an executive luncheon in Chicago on Wednesday.

Although he acknowledged that Warren had a few “legitimate complaints,” he ultimately doubts the Massachusetts senator understands his business.

This isn’t the first time the two have clashed. In her book “A Fighting Chance,” Warren wrote about a tense 2013 meeting in which Dimon expressed unhappiness with her ongoing work to strengthen financial regulations. When she eventually told him, “I think you guys are breaking the law,” Warren writes Dimon suddenly got quiet and responded, “So hit me with a fine. We can afford it.”

That’s for sure. JP Morgan Chase was one of five of the world’s largest banks hit with a total $5.7 billion fine after pleading guilty to global currency manipulation charges. Add to that, the $13 billion settlement it paid because of its funding of bad mortgages. Nonetheless, in the fourth quarter of 2014 alone, the company reaped in a $4.9 billion profit.

But Dimon proves to be far more benevolent than Warren may realize. On Wednesday, he kindly offered to sit down with the senator whenever she wants so he could explain Global Banking 101 to her—one transaction at a time.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate