One of the most sickening things I have read today is that a [former?] friend of the Whitehouse, Jamie Dimon, just got a huge raise. 74%!
'Now wait a minute here,' I thought to myself, 'why didn't they fire him?'
Was he not in charge when his employer did all the fail that got them the vaunted huge-fine-that-wasn't when tax dodges were figured in? Bwahahaaahahaaa. Yes, well, he was in charge when the settlements were negotiated so guess they decided he
deserved a big wad for his troubles. Many folks will just throw up their hands and give up.
Jamie Dimon: Yes, there is no justice
Posted on January 24, 2014 | By asross@sfchronicle.com (Andrew S Ross)
Just to recap,the board of directors of JPMorgan Chase this morning gave the bank’s chairman and CEO a 74% raise. Compensation for 2013: $20 million. Now true, that’s a mere fraction of the $23 billion in fines the bank incurred in the same year for a variety of criminal and civil offenses. The cost of doing business one supposes.
And as far as his board of directors are concerned, Dimon, has been conducting business just fine. Didn’t he play the leading role in negotiating the settlements? Without his sure hand and charismatic personality, the fines could have been even bigger. He actually saved the company money, not to mention presiding over another boffo year of profits. And he only gets half of the $49.9 million he got in 2007 – just prior to the entire financial system going down the tubes.
Forgotten, it seems, is the list of JP Morgan’s crimes and misdemeanors on Dimon’s watch— mortgage fraud, insurance fraud, illegal billing, kickbacks, manipulating California’s energy market, rigging the Libor benchmark interest rate, turning a blind eye to Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme; and who could forget the London Whale? Shouldn’t there be another price to pay?
I told my wife Jakkalbessie about this then said can't believe the corporations are as bad as the Robber Barrons -- at least they don't support child labor. She said, yes they do, except its now in other countries.
Well good for Jamie, I guess, but what about the 99%? What about the unemployed ? What about veterans? What about the hungry? What do they get? #endsenselessrant.
Elizabeth Warren not giving up
This morning got an email from another friend of the Whitehouse, progressive Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren :
[divineorder]
JPMorgan Chase recently reached yet another settlement with the U.S. government -- a $13 billion deal with the Department of Justice for peddling deceptive mortgages.
The banking giant broke the law, recklessly gambled with our economy, and had to pay a record government settlement. Guess what happened next? You guessed right: JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon just got a 74% raise yesterday.
The New York Times speculates that Dimon got the raise because of his "active role" in negotiating government settlements last year. And as Dimon put it himself, it could have been a lot worse if JPMorgan had been forced to go all the way to a trial instead of just settling.
So here's my question: If JPMorgan is so happy with their settlements that they are rewarding their CEO with a big raise, do you really think the federal bank regulators were tough enough?
There are a lot of steps we can take to push the regulators to do their jobs and hold financial institutions fully accountable when they break the law, and I think a good starting place would be by enacting the Truth in Settlements Act.
This is the bill I recently introduced with Senator Coburn that would require accessible, detailed disclosures about settlement agreements so the public can hold regulators accountable -- no more hiding out behind closed doors and keeping the details secret.
Tell your friends on Facebook and Twitter about the Truth in Settlements Act.
When I question federal regulators in Banking Committee hearings, they insist that they don't need to take big banks to trial when they break the law. They stand by their claim that settlement agreements are tough enough.
But if a settlement is so weak that Wall Street is celebrating with pay raises, it's not a good deal for the American people.
This week Jamie Dimon admitted that the big banks don't want to go to trial, so now there's no doubt: If the regulators were willing to go all the way to a trial, even once in a while, they would have a lot more leverage in the settlement negotiations. And maybe they could get better deals on behalf of consumers and taxpayers.
This is simple: Bankers on Wall Street need to be held accountable when they break the law, and regulators in Washington need to be held accountable when they enforce the law.
Tell your friends on Facebook and Twitter about the Truth in Settlements Act. It's time for real transparency and accountability.
Thank you for being a part of this,
Elizabeth
Yes, we should share this far and wide. Hopefully the President will join EW in pressuring regulators to do their job as well.
This is an issue that should speak to voters in 2014 if Dems can make big strides toward reigning in the TBTF banks and Wall Street.
Credit: http://img706.imageshack.us/...
Must watch Video of EW floor speech introducing the bill (sorry no transcript)
10:06 AM PT: Maybe this will be the spark that ignites a real movement ?
Bloomberg video raises many important issues that Democrats must get out ahead of in order to win imo.
Can Jamie Dimon's Pay Spark Political Populism?
Bloomberg-Jan 24, 2014
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
"Americans have got to be outraged by this ?" "More and more populism in the Republican party." "...more manufacturing jobs here."
11:42 AM PT: Art Tric in the comment stated that he just sent Elizabeth a contribution for her work on this. Here is the link for donating to support her work:
Help Elizabeth continue to level the playing field
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