Sorry, I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head about the privilege and sense of entitlement that allows Jamie Dimon to award himself a 74 percent pay raise despite rather large settlements by JPMorgan Chase for the "London Whale" and Bernie Madoff scandals, numbering in the billions of dollars.
And then, to prove that he really is above little plebian trivialities like accountability, Jamie Dimon told an audience of his fellow elites in Davos, Switzerland that it would have been "criminal" to subject JPMorgan Chase to a trial.
Dimon said JPMorgan had "two really bad options" in choosing to settle or fight the cases. Going to court could have taken three or four years and the outcome could have been worse, he said.
"It would really hurt this company and that would have been criminal for me to subject our company to those kinds of issues," Dimon said.
Personally, I think that paycheck is criminal. Clearly, we don't see eye to eye on the notion of personal and fiscal responsibility. I'm proud to say that Elizabeth Warren sees it the same way I do:
Wow. In this interview, JPMorgan head Jamie Dimon explains why it is so important for big banks to settle with regulators after they break the law and avoid going all the way to court. It would be really costly, he says. Well, duh. I hope the banking regulators were listening. If they are never willing to go to trial either - which sure seems to be the case - they have a lot less leverage in their settlement negotiations.
