STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 20 March 2013

[Demeter]

29. The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Jamie Dimon, Wall Street’s Golden Boy By Lynn Stuart Parramore

http://www.alternet.org/economy/spectacular-rise-and-fall-jamie-dimon-wall-streets-golden-boy?akid=10211.227380.ngElvg&rd=1&src=newsletter811974&t=3&paging=off

They called him a hero. The most esteemed banker of his time. The captain who could steer the ship while others foundered. The handsome, charismatic CEO of JP Morgan Chase, he of the silver hair and golden tongue, beloved by presidents and praised by pundits. Now the truth is out, and Wall Street’s golden boy, Jamie Dimon, has fallen to earth with a thud...Why did it take so long? Why did the American media treat him with kid gloves? In a populist moment, how did he manage to escape the scorn heaped on his colleagues?

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Man on the Make SHORT BIO FOLLOWS


How the Mighty Have Fallen

Fast-forward to summer 2012, when it seemed that the Great Gatsby ran into Moby Dick while taking his yacht for a spin. A nasty, behemoth of a trading fuck-up dubbed the “London Whale” sent billions of dollars up in smoke when a hedging strategy – at least that’s what the bank claimed – went wrong. At first, Dimon pooh-poohed the disaster as a "tempest in a teapot.” Then he tried to spin it as an isolated risk management problem that had been fully addressed. Criminal investigators weren’t buying it, and they began to probe into the bank’s activities. By January 2013, Dimon’s pay was cut by more than half, down to $11.5 million. Even so, the bank’s board of directors praised Dimon for “forcefully responding” to the trading loss.

But praise was getting harder to come by. Around the time the pay cut was announced, Forbes magazine, hardly known for its distrust of bankers, published an article summing up the feeling about Dimon that had begun to circulate in Switzerland at the big annual convention of economic honchos held in January: “Davos: How Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase Endanger the Public Safety.” Then came the Big Reveal. Last Thursday, a 300-page Senate report delving into the details of the $6.2 billion London Whale loss pointed the finger of blame directly at Jamie Dimon. An email containing the words “I approve” made it clear that the guy known for micromanagement and checking out data knew exactly what was going on at JPM. He had specifically told his people to take on riskier business and he approved new ways of hiding it...The New York Times is no longer singing Dimon’s praises. Gretchen Morgenson and others have been filling the business pages for the last two weeks with tales of Dimon’s follies and the reckless behavior of JPM. Morgenson had two words when she read the Senate report: “Be afraid.” For all the Dodd-Franking and the tough talk of reining in big banks, JPM, she concluded, is a ticking time-bomb rife with stupid risk-taking, bad management and a penchant for misleading investors and the public.

In the blogosphere, some put it more plainly. David Dayen, writing for Naked Capitalism, covered a report written by Joshua Rosner, an Graham-Fisher and Co. analyst (and Morgenson’s co-author on the book Reckless Endangerment). The title of Dayen’s piece told the tale: “New Report Exposes JPMorgan Chase as Mostly a Criminal Enterprise.” Dayen, a veteran reporter of dastardly Wall Street deeds, was aghast at the list of frauds and malfeasance covered in Rosner’s report, including everything from illegal flood insurance claims to auto-finance rip-offs to shifting trading losses to customer accounts. (If you can stomach it, read the full report SEE LINK.) The rise and fall of Jamie Dimon is more than simply another tawdry tale of Wall Street. It is a reflection, and a criticism, of the American experience—our beliefs, our desires, and our attitude toward the wealthy. Dimon’s story is about the tarnishing of the American Dream. It reveals the sham of romanticizing riches and the folly of our need to believe in the goodness of those who possess wealth...Maybe Jamie Dimon was a cut above his fellow bankers. Given the looks of that crowd, that’s pretty lousy praise. Or maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he’s just a run-of-the-mill hustler, no better than the rest of them. He pretended to be in control of a too-big-to-manage bank and when things went awry – which they always do – he tried to fake his way out of trouble. This Golden Boy just got away with it longer than some.

OH, I WOULDN'T SAY IT'S THAT GLOBAL...IT'S THE ELITIST 1%.

THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING!