May 11, 2012

Quote of the Day: Other Bankers are Even Dumber Than Jamie Dimon

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From JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, on whether his bank’s $2 billion trading loss suggests that bank trading ought to be more closely regulated:

Just because we’re stupid doesn’t mean everybody else was.

Dimon is digging himself an even deeper hole here. Here’s the thing: JPMorgan really does have a sterling reputation. So does Dimon. By consensus, he’s probably the best big bank CEO around. But even so he managed to lose $2 billion in a few weeks.

Luckily, no big harm was done. JPMorgan has a solid balance sheet, the banking system is on solid ground these days, and the loss means little more than a hit to earnings. But think about this: If even JPMorgan can lose a colossal amount of money on stupid trades. If even JPMorgan has lousy controls in place. If even Jamie Dimon allowed himself to be lulled to sleep by a star trader. If all that happened, what are the odds it’s not going to happen to a less well managed bank in the future, and happen at a time when it turns into another Lehman Brothers and shorts out the entire financial system? The odds are way too short for comfort, I’d say.

Would even Jamie Dimon take that bet?

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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