If the United States fails to get its fiscal house in order it will trigger financial consequences that will “dwarf Lehman Brothers” and seriously diminish the nation’s role as a world economic leader, the CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Jamie Dimon, told a Denver audience Thursday night.
Dimon, the man who the New York Times dubbed “the nation’s least hated Wall Street banker,” said political talk about not raising the U.S. debt ceiling could trigger a default on the nation’s financial obligations, which he said will constitute a “moral disaster” that the U.S. will have a nearly impossible time recovering from.
“Things are going to happen that are not going to be pretty,“ Dimon said in a wide-ranging question and answer session at the University of Colorado Denver School of Business’ Celebration of Success dinner.
Congress and the president have to come to grips with gross overspending by the federal government, he acknowledged. But he complained that even though half of the deficit problem is over issues the two major political parties agree on, partisan considerations are preventing progress on any of it.
“Congress needs to deal with the half of it, and leave the rest of it until later,” Dimon said.
U.S. tax rates on corporate profits make the country uncompetitive with other nations of the world, driving capital and jobs overseas, he said. Noting that JPMorgan Chase has paid $100 billion in taxes to the federal government over the last 10 years, Dimon said anti-banking attitudes that permeate political discussions are wrong.
“I’m tired of listening to that crap,” Dimon said.
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