This week, Jamie Dimon, CEO of mega-bank JPMorgan Chase, told a Chicago audience that he doesn’t know if Senator Elizabeth Warren “fully understands the global banking system.”
Elizabeth Warren is having none of it. Friday she fired back, telling the Huffington Post, "The problem is not that I don’t understand the global banking system. The problem for these guys is that I fully understand the system and I understand how they make their money. And that’s what they don’t like about me."
Jamie Dimon was a key player in the 2008 financial crisis that killed millions of jobs, destroyed the savings of millions of American families, and plunged the global economy into chaos.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren has studied the global banking system for more than 20 years, sits on the Senate Banking Committee, taught about banking at Harvard University and -- oh yeah! -- oversaw the bailout of Jamie Dimon's bank.
This isn't the first encounter between Dimon and Senator Warren. In her book A Fighting Chance, Warren writes about a tense 2013 meeting with the JPMorgan Chase CEO:
When the conversation turned to financial regulation and Dimon began complaining about all the burdensome rules his bank had to follow, I finally interrupted. I was polite, but definite… [I told him] “I think you guys are breaking the law.”
Suddenly Dimon got quiet. He leaned back and slowly smiled. “So hit me with a fine. We can afford it.”
Well, guess what? In November 2013, Dimon's bank paid a $13 billion settlement for funding bad mortgages. Then last month, JPMorgan Chase was one of five banks to pay a $5.7 billion fine for global currency manipulation. In fact, in one quarter of 2013, Dimon’s bank spent more on legal fees than it did on paying its entire staff.
Here's the part that's not so funny: Big Wall Street banks and CEOs like Jamie Dimon are still spending millions on lobbying and campaign contributions so they can continue to pull the strings in Washington. Dimon's attack just goes to show that we need more bold, “Warren wing” Democrats who will fearlessly call out Wall Street's abuse.
Thanks for being a bold progressive.
-- Keith Rouda, PCCC Organizer
Want to support the Warren Wing? Senator Elizabeth Warren says, "PCCC members were with me since the beginning -- even before there was a beginning! Now, we have lots of work to do together." Chip in $3 to help push Warren's ideas in 2015 and 2016.
Paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC (www.BoldProgressives.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions to the PCCC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.
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