NEW YORK — J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon ruled out accepting any political appointment and said Wednesday that while the economy is getting stronger, the recovery is “stuck.” Dimon also strongly disagreed with assessments that the U.S. banking industry can’t grow.
Dimon said during an interview with CNBC that the U.S. economy “has been terrible for a long period of time,” and that the political wrangling between Congress and the president has hampered a stronger recovery.
“I want to see this country grow again,” he said. “We need more coherent, consistent, coordinated policy. A lot of policy is inconsistent, made in the middle of the night.”
The downgrade of U.S. government debt by Standard & Poor’s on Friday is “just an opinion” by the rating firm, and many market participants rely on their own research, he said.
But the U.S. “needs to show fiscal discipline,” Dimon said. The heated political debate about raising the nation’s debt ceiling was “demoralizing,” but “this country has been through far worse,” he said.
However, Dimon ruled out jumping into the political fray. Asked about consistently recurring rumors that he might become a candidate for secretary of the Treasury, he said, “No. I am not suited for politics.”
Indeed, Dimon, a Democrat, during the interview called the Dodd-Frank Act that imposed new regulation on banks “Dodd-Frankenstein.”
