Liberal Free Chat Zone

[hang ten]

you've turned me onto the NY Post:) it's in my favourites now.. one of comments to this article pointed out that there are no unions in the bankin industry, so it makes a good target.


Dimon's spitting mad

Make automakers pay, too: JPMorgan chief
By MARK DeCAMBRE

Last Updated: 4:33 AM, January 16, 2010

Posted: 12:50 AM, January 16, 2010

JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon yesterday blasted the White House's proposed Wall Street tax, arguing banks alone shouldn't be held responsible for a federal bailout of industries beyond the financial sector.

While Dimon went on record as being supportive of banks paying back Uncle Sam for the financial sector cleanup, he was less keen on footing the bill for the rescue of automakers Chrysler and General Motors, both of which were pushed into bankruptcy by the Obama administration and restructured.

"It might surprise you -- we generally agree with the concept that the industry should pay for its own cleanup," Dimon said during a conference call to discuss JPMorgan's year-end performance results. "TARP got extended to a lot of things other than banks, like insurance companies and car companies, so I don't understand why [JPMorgan] should be made to [pay for them]. We've already paid for that."


BLOOMBERG NEWS
Jamie Dimon
President Obama on Thursday proposed levying a tax on the country's largest financial institutions to help pay for the billions doled out to rescue everything from the car makers to Citigroup to insurer American International Group.

The tax would generate as much as $90 billion in revenue over the next 10 years, a relatively minor hit to the banks' bottom line.

But many bankers, including Dimon, are chafing at having to carry the loads of other companies that received money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, including not only GM and Chrysler but also smaller banks and mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, all of which are exempt from the tax.

JPMorgan itself received $25 billion in TARP funds, but has since repaid that money.

Amid outrage over outsize bonuses and profits generated during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Wall Street has become Washington's whipping boy, subject to not only a wide range of taxes and other fees, but also regulation on matters related to compensation.

Dimon's comments came on the same day JPMorgan released full-year and quarterly financial figures that suggest the bank is close to making a full recovery.

The bank posted a fourth-quarter profit of $3.3 billion, and $11.7 billion for the year. Revenue was a record $108 billion in 2009.

In addition, the bank said it has set aside a whopping $26.9 billion for compensation, which includes bonuses. That's 18 percent higher than last year's amount, and much of that dough will be paid to JPMorgan's investment banking unit.

Yet the bank isn't completely out of the woods. While things are good on Wall Street, Main Street continues to suffer, with losses in mortgages and credit cards continuing to take their toll on the bank. The bank added $1.9 billion to reserve against potential losses on mortgages and said it expected to see a $2 billion credit card loss over the first half of the year alone.

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