JP Morgan Chase CEO Issues Warning At UC Denver's Business School

DENVER -- It would be a "moral disaster" if the United States were to default on its debts and become unable to pay its obligations, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon said at an appearance in Colorado Thursday evening.

The U.S. is the financial linchpin of the world, and the economic effects of the U.S. defaulting could be "potentially catastrophic," he said at a dinner for the University of Colorado Denver Business School.

"It will dwarf Lehman," Dimon said, referring to the 2008 collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers, which contributed to the beginning of a global financial crisis.

Dimon's comments came in response to a question about the federal deficit from moderator Tom Petrie, a vice chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Congress is debating raising the country's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit. White House officials say the government will run out of cash to pay expenses Aug. 2, but lawmakers have said they want spending cuts before they agree to raise the debt ceiling.

Dimon got a standing ovation at the dinner, a marked contrast to JPMorgan's annual meeting in Ohio on Tuesday, when more than 400 demonstrators shouted outside. The protests were organized by a coalition of clergy and unions, which is pushing for action and legislation around banking practices that hurt troubled homeowners.

Along with all the major banks in the country, JPMorgan Chase has been criticized for its handling of mortgage foreclosures.

After Petrie noted The New York Times recently called him America's least hated banker, Dimon quipped he never expected to be in a business where he'd be on the receiving end of so much anger.

"Our people work hard, they give a damn, they help their communities," he said.

During the crisis, JPMorgan Chase bought Bear Stearns Cos. and what was left of Washington Mutual Inc. after it failed. It also accepted aid from the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, even though it didn't need to, Dimon said.

Dimon has said government officials told him that taking the aid would boost the health of the financial system and reduce the stigma of only a few banks accepting aid. At the time, Dimon called TARP money a scarlet letter.

Once JPMorgan repaid the aid, Dimon said he was tempted to include a note to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that said, "P.S. During the whole time you were lending us $25 billion, we were loaning you $200 billion" in the form of Treasury instruments the company holds.

Comments

[DaroldB]

03:32 PM on 07/02/2011

I think we should all wave bye bye to Timmy and welcome Mr Dimon to take his place. In the meantime, stop spending. Pay the bills as they come due, and quit all the hysterics!

[teachone]

03:57 PM on 06/09/2011

The same could be said for you Jamie Dimon/JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup, for it would also be a "Moral Disaster, as well as a definite way to bring all of your financial establishments down completely" if the American people decide to remove all their money from your establshments into their local credit union, or better yet a safe in their home, and then decide to default on their debt to all of you..mmm, think about that, it would be quite a mess and quite devastating for you all, would it not? Fact is the American people don't have anything left to lose but doing such, but you all do since you took everyones money!! I will remind you and your little buddies, as will the millions of people in this country that you are here to serve, that you are not GODS, that you are all sevants to the public need and if you make them mad enough they are going to take every penny you and your cronies currently have for good. You all DO NOT own this country, our government or any American that lives here, we have total control of whether you stand or fall, we all made you as big as you are with our business and we are quite capable of bringing you all crashing down!! I am sure President Obama has finally learned his lesson, your ethics and morals are non- existent. .

[Joe Padilla]

12:54 AM on 05/21/2011

There he goes again. Threatening his country with disaster again if they don't keep the money flowing. What are you going to do Jamie, cut off lending at the community level? You are fresh out of threats. Whatever this rat faced thief says they should do the opposite.

[little jenny]

11:37 PM on 05/20/2011

JP Morgan Chase CEO Issues Warning At UC Denver's Business School, i find he make a great mistake if he with ability and talent he should let the school know and try use some convicing way to persuade people to elect him but actually his behavior that people down, his action show that he did not qualified to be the ceo.
source:http://www.christianlouboutindiscountsale.net

[rowdiman]

07:55 PM on 05/20/2011

And Fox is worried about Obama indoctrinating our children in schools?

This guy shouldn't be allowed around students of any impressionable age.

[mnnyer]

06:45 PM on 05/20/2011

The GOP doesn't care.
If it makes the President look bad, it works for them.

[rowdiman]

07:56 PM on 05/20/2011

Spot on. F & F.

[Joe Padilla]

01:08 AM on 05/21/2011

And please remember that when a Republican is in office. The Democrats weren't any better and I agree that rooting against your country to make your party look better is despicable. The liberals on this site who did that to our country and troops during the Iraq war were awful.

That said, Jamie Domon's claim to fame was that he saw this coming and kept his bank out of trouble. I say if he saw it coming and didn't alert everyone then he is guilty of treason. This is exactly why these banks should be nationalized or all government ties should be cut. No borrowing from the fed, no breaks on FDIC insurance, no loan guarantees, no fannie mae, no insured loan losses, No FHA, No agriculture loans, no more excessive credit card fees, No SBA, No insured agricuture loans, No insider information, no tax breaks, no prime dealer of treasuries status, NONE OF IT.

Then he can call himself a capitalist. Until then pay him 400K a year and regulate this thing like a utility.

[adlerman]

06:36 PM on 05/20/2011

Dimon and all bankers and "financial" thieves suck.

[Artamentous]

06:06 PM on 05/20/2011

A Moral Disaster? Like robbing tax payers

? F|_|CK you Jamie. I wish I had none you were on campus, I would have heckled you.

[orcinous]

05:48 PM on 05/20/2011

Chase took over my wamu account with a credit line of $3000. They then charged me a $40 fee to maintain the account. Two months later they lowered my limit to $300. Two months later they closed my account. They are crooks. I hate Chase.

[bichn]

05:33 PM on 05/20/2011

So this banksta is taking his flim flam show on the road now? He should be behind bars.

[timetraveler2039]

03:22 PM on 05/20/2011

"Our people work hard (to make more money than anyone else), they give a damn (about the size of their retirement packages and especially their bonuses), they help their communities (by pretending not to notice how many people are living in poverty, or how many of their neighbors are homeless" he said.

[wrightj]

03:18 PM on 05/20/2011

So what do you meanMr Dimond, you think we must keep putting up with the wicked gambling additction that benenfits 1% of the populace while the other 99% falls into serfdom and poverty? No Jamie Dimond, - we'd rather your whole disgusting shell game ended and you were brought down to reality and had to live like the rest of us before we'll allow your pernicious addiction to continue destroying the world country by country!.

[Jimbo23]

03:11 PM on 05/20/2011

When even the space banker squids are saying "no really we have to keep paying our bills" you know it's gotten bad over at the GOP. Somehow the Teathuglicans think the rules don't apply to them and by extension to the whole United States since they happen to live here. If anyone thinks there's no "serious" consequences to just not paying your bills I suggest you try it for yourself 1st and see how that goes before you push it on the whole country...

[Jericha]

02:28 PM on 05/20/2011

This guy sounds more and more like a mafia thug...

"It would be a shame if something were to happen with that 'financial obligation' of yours."

[Decorina]

03:06 PM on 05/20/2011

You're not supposed to notice that! F & F'd.

[researcher]

01:51 PM on 05/20/2011

business schools still teach leadership principle based on skinnerism and taylorism such as pay for performance and ranking individuals.

one only has to look around and see the results of what our schools are teaching and how these teachings are affecting our nation. these students will take this unawareness right out into the workplace.

the amount of inbreeding with business school professors has reached an all time high. more of the same being passed off as new thinking because they hired a professor from another business school that teaches the same skinnerisms as the hiring school teaches.

a standing ovation. gotta love that one. the amount of corruption in wash and on wall street has reached an all time high and these students cheer him on. these big banks gave themselves huge bonuses even when they failed and with tax payers money. standing ovation indeed.

you want to see what a decline of a nation looks like. this is a prime example when a person gets a standing ovation for such business practices.

[Twohairydogs]

06:17 PM on 05/20/2011

I go to a business school. One thing that's different about my school is that most people are...let's just say, more mature and we don't take everything we're told as gospel. In grad classes discussions, many of us take the position that much of the stuff they're "teaching" us is the same c rap that got our country into this mess. It's an incestuous, insular place. When I made a point that laying off skilled workers as a long-term corporate survival plan is a flawed philosophy, I was told that maybe I could find a job in a "kinder and gentler" place like England. I hope the younger students go into their classes with as jaundiced an eye as I do.

[rowdiman]

07:57 PM on 05/20/2011

Great post.

On a lighter note, you may have solved the banking problem: inbreeding:)