During Wednesday's hearing with bank CEOs, Rep. Katie Porter drove home how wide the gap is between Jamie Dimon's lavish lifestyle at $31 million per year and a theoretica entry-level employee at JP Morgan Chase.
In Porter's scenario, she imagined a single mom of a 6-year old living in Irvine, CA. She found a job at JP Morgan Chase on Monster.com advertised at $16.50 hourly wage. She then proceeded to outline how this single mom would face at least a $567 shortfall each month after taxes and expenses.
Her question for Dimon was simple: "How should she manage this budget shortfall while she’s working full-time at your bank?"
Hedging, Dimon answered, “I don’t know that all your numbers are accurate. That number is generally a starter job. You can get those jobs out of high school, and she may have my job one day."
Oh! That pie-in-the-sky attitude, where if you just hope hard enough as a single parent of a six-year old making $16.50/hour, you too can make $31 million a year. It's like a drug. An insidious, addictive, lie-drug.
Porter would have none of it, reminding Dimon that maybe she would, but TODAY she's $500 short of meeting her bills.
“She may,” Porter shot back. “But, Mr. Dimon, she doesn’t have the ability right now to spend your $31 million.”
Porter pressed on. Would that single mom run up credit cards or would she just write bad checks and suck up the overdraft fees? Maybe a payday loan, I think, driving her even farther into debt. God forbid that single mom needs a car repair, or has a doctor bill. What then?
Dimon's final answer? “I don’t know. I’d have to think about it.”
Raise your hand if you think he won't give it another thought.
