Sunday, July 19, 2009

President Obama's Favorite Banker

As long term EPJ readers know, for some time, I identified Jamie Dimon/JPMorgan Chase as having favored banking status in the Obama Administration, along with Goldman Sachs. See The Gifting of Washington Mutual Bank to Jamie Dimon and Gov Shovels More Cash to JPMorgan Chase .

Oh, I knew something was going on. And was pretty blunt about it:

...just how did the government's fair haired boy Jamie Dimon at JPMorganChase end up not needing to raise any capital?

I knew something was up but, I couldn't figure the connection. Now, in retrospect, it should have been obvious. JPMorgan Chase is at its core Chicago-based Bank One. Dimon moved to Chicago when he became head of Bank One. In record time, Dimon weaseled his way into the Chicago's old boys network that launched Obama's presidential campaign.

Hey, don't take my word on it, take a look at today's front page Sunday NYT piece that finally turned the light on in the attic for me:


Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, will hold a meeting of his board here in the nation’s capital for the first time on Monday, with a special guest expected: the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

Mr. Emanuel’s appearance would underscore the pull of Mr. Dimon, who amid the disgrace of his industry has emerged as President Obama’s favorite banker, and in turn, the envy of his Wall Street rivals. It also reflects a good return on what Mr. Dimon has labeled his company’s “seventh line of business” — government relations.

The business of better influencing Washington, begun in late 2007, was jump-started just as the financial crisis hit and the capital displaced New York as the nation’s money center. Then Mr. Obama’s election brought to power Chicago Democrats well-known to Mr. Dimon from his recent years running a bank there.

One of them is Mr. Emanuel, who has accepted the invitation to speak to the board pending a review by the White House counsel. The Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, declined out of concern that he would be seen as too cozy with a company that has numerous business issues before the department, an administration official said.

“It’s a very nice thing for the board to have happen,” said the chief of a major financial company. “But you’d have to have a lot of influence to pull it off.”...

He is “one of the few Democratic C.E.O.’s in that line of work,” said Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the House banking committee. “And look, he’s been less impaired by failure than some of the others, so that’s given him a kind of lead role.”

Ah, Barney neglects to mention that JPMorgan was "less impaired" because they were gifted Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual.

This all started under Bush's watch, so there is also some Republican connection, but Dimon is a big D Democrat, big time tied to Obama. There's no way you can't make the connection , unless you think Rahm Emanuel is going to end up at the shareholder meeting of company where you hold stock.

If you can take it here's more from NYT:


Mr. Dimon, JPMorgan’s chairman and chief executive, comes to Washington about twice a month, compared with maybe twice a year in the past. He requires senior managers to commute as well.

In recent months, he has met with officials including Mr. Geithner; the White House economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers; and lawmakers of both parties. He phones or e-mails Mr. Emanuel at whim. Each week, his staff gives him the names of a half-dozen public officials to call...Mr. Dimon and Mr. Geithner know each other well from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Mr. Geithner was president and, as such, a JPMorgan regulator. Mr. Dimon sits on the New York Fed’s board. The two men spent untold hours negotiating in 2008 when the government enlisted JPMorgan to buy some of Bear Stearns’s assets and Washington Mutual to prevent their collapse. Mr. Dimon said the two had spoken by phone perhaps 10 times this year...Another Obama associate is on JPMorgan’s payroll. Mr. Dimon hired William M. Daley,[Ah NYT neglects to point out, he is also the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley] a former commerce secretary and Chicago powerbroker, in 2004 as vice chairman and head of Midwest operations. Since 2007, Mr. Daley has overseen global government relations...Now that Mr. Obama is in the White House, Mr. Dimon has been prominent when the president wants to talk to big business.

During one such meeting in late March, as Citigroup’s chairman, Richard D. Parsons, was trying to explain banks and lending, the president interrupted with a quip: “All right, I’ll talk to Jamie.”

2 comments:

  1. 3/21/10 Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (Rockefeller); key player behind the present Enron-ization of the U.S.A.: bankrupting this country and its children by having REAL Americans bail him and his co-con-men and con-women on Wall St. out of his KNOWINGLY FRAUDELENT derivatives and CMOs (Collateral Mortgage Obligations). He, like 'President' Obama and Timothy Geitner, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner are economic/financial terrorists intent on taking the U.S.A. down in order to effect George Bush, Sr.'s 'New World Order' per the Madrid Circular Letter ('We will build the Fourth Reich on the ruins of the United States'), a document seized by the Allies from Madrid's Geo-Political Center, headquaters for the Nazi underground shortly after WWII. Please see http://www.worldreports.org and
    http://proliberty.com/observer/20070405.htm

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  2. The 99% VS the 1% - A battle to be fought and won with truth and unity!
    Now is the time to join forces with those you would not normally consider. This is all starting to leak out to the main stream media... finally. We just need to KEEP THE HEAT on them. We will soon be posting new petition and email campaign info as well as protest ideas. We just need more people following this group and we can use resources from the Tea Party, Occupy and other groups. THEY win as long as they can keep us arguing with each other.
    WE need to come together with people we wouldn't normally work with to bring these criminals DOWN! Spread the word, others have carried the load of exposing this activity. Now we the people NEED to come out and make it a major issue in the news and in this political cycle.
    JOIN US, this is YOUR cause too (Click the “LIKE” button and spread the word: www.facebook.com/BankAndPoliticianFinancialCorruption

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