JPMorgan Chase CEO Gets Warm Hill Welcome from Senators
Must see on Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/6/14/jpmorgan_chase_ceo_gets_warm_hill
Protesters confronted JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday as he testified on Capitol Hill about how his bank lost up to $3 billion in risky bets. Lawmakers, however, gave a warmer greeting to the man described as Washingtons favorite banker. JPMorgan spent $7.6 million on lobbying last year, and Dimon has a long record of contributing campaign donations to lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee. We speak to former investment banker Nomi Prins, author of "Black Tuesday." Prins calls Dimons appearance "the tamest and there have been very tame ones hearing for any of the bank leaders since the [financial] crisis began in 2008." She adds that "what we saw yesterday was a glimpse of how lobbying money, as well as additional campaign money ... have a tremendous impact on regulations and ... the power that [the financial industry has] within the Senate and, therefore, with respect to regulation of their own industry. ... This is why theres no line between legislators and bankers." [includes rush transcript]
FILED UNDER Financial Meltdown, Wall Street, lobbying
GUEST:
Nomi Prins, former investment banker who worked on Wall Street as a managing director at Goldman Sachs and ran the international analytics group at Bear Stearns in London, author of It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street and Other Peoples Money: The Corporate Mugging of America. Her latest book is Black Tuesday, a novel about corruption and romance surrounding the 1929 stock market crash.
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