JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Friday railed against Washington’s failure to address sweeping policy issues such as tax reform and infrastructure spending.
Dimon, head of the world’s largest bank, expressed frustration during JPMorgan earnings calls, saying the United States is missing out on faster economic growth because of Washington gridlock.
{mosads}”Since the Great Recession, which is now eight years old, we’ve been growing at 1.5 to 2 percent in spite of stupidity and political gridlock, because the American business sector is powerful and strong,” he said.
On recent trips to France, Ireland and Israel, Dimon said he found that those countries understand the importance of education and infrastructure.
“It’s almost embarrassing being an American citizen … and listening to the stupid shit we have to deal with in this country,” Dimon said on the call, according to news reports.
Dimon, head of Business Roundtable, a lobbying group of the nation’s top CEOs, said that while the U.S. economy had managed to expand even through bad policy decisions, growth could move along at a much faster clip.
“What I’m saying is that it would be much stronger growth if there were more intelligent decisions and less gridlock,” Dimon said.
He continued to make a push for major policy changes on taxes, regulation and infrastructure.
“We need infrastructure reform. We need corporate tax reform. We need better skills and education. If we don’t focus on these things, we are hurting average Americans every day,” he said.
JPMorgan’s earnings beat Wall Street estimates, with profits rising to $7 billion in the second quarter, up 13 percent from a year ago. Earnings per share increased to $1.82, ahead of the $1.58 a share expected by analysts.