Jamie Dimon thinks that “there is truth” to China’s claim that the United States is “incompetent and lazy” — though he added it was a “mistake to say that America has the short end of the stick.”
Dimon, whose net worth is pegged by Forbes at $1.5 billion, warned of “storm clouds” on the horizon for the US economy and predicted that the odds favor either a “harder recession” or “maybe something worse.”
The billionaire banking executive who heads Wall Street investment giant JPMorgan Chase made the comments during a freewheeling client call last Tuesday. The contents of the call were first reported over the weekend by Yahoo! Finance.
The JPMorgan CEO touched on geopolitical issues, noting that “China has serious issues.”
“Autocratic management can work in certain things, but doesn’t work in the long run,” Dimon said of China.
“They kind of look at America and say, ‘You have been incompetent and lazy.’ There is truth to that,” he said. “We have screwed up infrastructure. We have screwed up inner city schools.”
Dimon then added: “But I think it is a mistake to say that America has the short end of the stick.”
The banking chief added that the US needs to mimic China in “taking a leadership position.”
“You see what China is doing in Africa and Asia. We need to do that, too,” Dimon said.
He also criticized climate activists for discouraging the production of more oil and natural gas.
“Why can’t we get it through our thick skulls, that if you want to solve climate [change], it is not against climate [change] for America to boost more oil and gas?” Dimon said.
The CEO also said that remote work was hurting efforts to diversify companies since it encouraged people to stay within their racial and socioeconomic bubbles.
“You have to look at the flaws of the Zoom world,” Dimon said.
“It doesn’t work for an apprenticeship program. It doesn’t work for spontaneous stuff.”
Dimon added: “When you come [to work] it is a rainbow room. But if you live in certain parts of our country and go eat out there, it is all white.”
“You’re losing opportunities to meet other people. I think they are cumulative negatives.”
Dimon also defended what he called “woke capitalism” because “society is worse off if we won’t lift up everybody.”
Earlier this year, JPMorgan responded to pushback from employees who were upset about having to return to the office by allowing a more flexible, hybrid model for some 40% of the firm’s workers.
