JAMIE DIMON: The US has ‘serious issues that we need to address’
By Bob Bryan 16 hours ago
Your vote this November counts for electing someone who has experience with and understands public policy and its relationship to how our country works.
In the company’s annual letter Jamie Dimon speaks out. Here are a few excerpts:
“We have spoken many times about the extraordinarily positive and resilient American economy,” wrote Dimon. “Today, it is growing stronger, and it is far better than you hear in the current political discourse. But we have serious issues that we need to address — even the United States does not have a divine right to success.”
“Yes, bad public policy, and I’m not looking at this in a partisan way, creates risk for the economies of the world and the living standards of the people on this planet — and, therefore, for the future of JPMorgan Chase — more so than credit or market risks,” said Dimon.
“I won’t go into a lot of detail but will list only some key concerns: the long-term fiscal and tax issues (driven mostly by healthcare and Social Security costs, as well as complex and poorly designed corporate and individual taxes), immigration, education (especially in inner city schools) and the need for good, longterm infrastructure plans,” he wrote.
He then touched on the dangers of policy inaction by the US. Here’s Dimon (emphasis added):
“I do not believe that these issues will cause a crisis in the next five to 10 years, and, unfortunately, this may lull us into a false sense of security. But after 10 years, it will become clear that action will need to be taken. The problem is not that the US economy won’t be able to take care of its citizens — it is that taking away benefits, creating intergenerational warfare and scapegoating will make for very difficult and bad politics. This is a tragedy that we can see coming. Early action would be relatively painless.”
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