Top 262 Quotes & Sayings by Jamie Dimon - Page 4

We've accommodated the new rules and regulations. We've served our clients and had quite good returns.

We continued to build the business, even in the worst of times. We do business all over America.

Wall Street gives money to both [Democrats and Republicans] because they want to be on the good side of whoever becomes president .

The Trump administration's economic agenda is the right agenda. Corporate taxes have been driving capital and brains and companies overseas for a decade. It has caused huge damage in investment and jobs and productivity. It was a mistake. We have to fix it. Counterintuitively, that usually helps middle-class wages, and lower-class wages, and job formation.

I do want the tax system to be efficient and be conducive to growth, which it is not.

Any good job is a good job. This whole concept of a dead-end job? It's not true. I've heard it my whole life. Jobs lead to dignity. If you're good at the first, then you can get the second. Jobs lead to household formation. Jobs are a better solution for society.

Dodd-Frank is 2,000 pages long. It covers thousands of rules, regulations, interpretations and things like that.

There are parts [in Dodd-Frank] that I don't agree with. But, in total, it is what it is.

We did not anticipate the political fallout from it. We definitely didn't need it and we paid it back the first day we were allowed to.

We, Americans, have the best country on the planet. We have schools, universities, food, water, energy, peaceful neighbors, low corruption, you name it, deepest and widest capital markets. That doesn't mean we shouldn't identify problems. We don't have a divine right to success.

I've always been a ... believer in good regulation.

I think immigration has been one of the vital things about the growth of America. I'm the product of grandparents who all immigrated from Greece. I hope eventually we have proper immigration.

If you talk to anyone involved in business - forget banks and big business - talk to small businesses - do it yourself, don't ask me - they'll tell you it's crippling. Small-business formation is the lowest it has ever been in a recovery, and it's really for two reasons. One is regulations and the second is access to capital for people starting new businesses.

Dodd-Frank and independent actions of banks go a long way in terms of progress on capital, liquidity, transparency, "living wills" (plans for winding down a bank in the event of a collapse) and resolutions.

I completely agree with the concept that American citizens shouldn't expect that a failure of a bank would cost them money, or that it would hurt the economy.

We're diversified, we're stable and consistent. Our businesses benefit from each other.

Our commercial bank [JPMorgan] is only in the U.S. We are serving what you call SMEs - small businesses, private companies.

If you look at Detroit, that mayor, it's been a train wreck for 40 years, the population has gone from 2 million to 700,000. This Mayor comes in, and he talked about streetlights, sanitation, jobs, policing, schools, affordable housing. He's doing it all, and it's growing for the first time in 30 years. Literally, one man. But that one man couldn't do it without business. And business couldn't have done it without a political environment where they wanted to improve things. If you had an antibusiness environment there, it would still be down there.

When you leave people behind, and those people who are left behind, it's not their fault, it's the leaders of the institutions. There's always going to be an elite. You can have an elite in a communist society. It is the leaders, something went wrong, and the leaders collectively are responsible.

We have a lot of people who are Republicans, a lot of people who are Democrats, and it's not just because of business reasons.

It takes 10 years to get all the permits to build a bridge today. Ten years? What happened to the good old can-do America? Where is "We get it done, we work together"? We've become this bureaucratic, stifling environment. I'm not talking about violating environmental things - I'm talking about building a bridge, getting things going, getting people to work together.

Not every company went bankrupt. Not every bank needed TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program]. So I'm very proud that JPMorgan, throughout that time period, was completely steadfast. We bought Bear Stearns because we thought we were helping the situation. We didn't cut and run.

We see very broad-based, moderate, growth. Most of the sectors are quite strong. I don't see any major potholes, and I believe [the economy] is strengthening.

I want Japan to think and say that we are better off for JPMorgan having been here through thick and thin.

I believe it's a good thing that people say, "Can we find a way to live together in peace?" And they did, for the most part.

More people are working, lending is up and savings are up. These are all positive signs for a strengthening economy.

I know the President [Barack Obama]. I like him and respect him. That does not mean I agree with all of our government's policies, whether they come from Democrats or Republicans.

They have a policy in China for their big companies called "Go abroad." It's a rational thing for both the company and the country to say, "We want big, successful companies." Particularly in areas where they need it: agriculture, energy, technology. I think banking, too. One or two have bought a trading house. Some have already begun expanding around the world. Of course they're going to have those ambitions. Why wouldn't they? They're just doing it methodically. It's a logical strategy and, well-executed, they will succeed.

After the tsunami in Japan, we were open for business. In fact, I flew there 10 days after the tsunami to show our support for the Japanese people.

I think what you've seen them do recently in the markets is what most of us learn doesn't ultimately work. But I think everyone has to figure that on their own.

We can take our Japanese clients around the world. We can take them to Brazil, Europe, anywhere. And we also take companies from around the world into Japan.

They [Chinese] have very smart, experienced people. I don't want to paint them all with the same brush. There was a little bit of a feeling that the stock market, which went from something like $4 trillion in valuation to $10 trillion, that the Chinese wanted that.

There is a lot of focus on that first rate move, and I'm not sure how important that is.

It can take a long time to get the rules in place that are conducive to growing, sometimes.

The best way to look at any business is from the standpoint of the clients. So there are these certain basic things that aren't going to change. Companies are going to have needs for equity, debt, advice, FX, and derivatives. Individuals are going to have needs for auto loans, mortgages, something that looks like a deposit account, and the ability to send money to people. Those things aren't going to change.

We represent companies from around the world who say, "I want to look at Japanese companies. I want to invest in Japan."

I do think there will be more Japanese companies expanding out of Japan, and there will be more cross-border flow from Japan.

The question is how do you do it [more consumer protection] so that it actually works that way? And that takes analysis, and sometimes collaboration between government and business, to understand how that works.

You would expect to see that first in high-yield [debt], but it was in the most liquid thing in the world. So that, I think - it's a little bit of a warning that we've got to be prepared and just be careful.

I learn from all our major competitors, whether they're in or out of the U.S. Wells Fargo is very actively, very aggressively, and very successfully building its U.S. investment bank.

I speak to lots of people around the world, and no one would tell you that 25 basis points will make a difference to them.

India is a huge democracy. Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi has ambitions to try to fix the infrastructure, the rules, taxes, education, and to lift up the Indian people. And we're hopeful that that's going to create positive momentum.

[That is] hard to predict, [it] could be either September or December [2016] I personally think the sooner the better because that would be a good sign that the Fed believes the economy is significantly stronger.

Prime Minister Modi [Narendra] is strong enough, and he's accomplished much.

We've had fairly consistent financial results.

Part of [Japanese companies] growing and expanding around the world is ... going to help the Japanese keep their lifestyles [despite Japan's] demographics, as a declining population, and [to] make it more conducive to women to go to work, I think, is a plus.

If you look at the banking business over many years, it's always been a huge user of technology. This has been going on my whole life, that people have been adding technology, digitizing services.

I think one could argue that there's more political input into the regulatory side, and on the regulatory side there seem to be fewer people with financial and banking experience - there are more lawyers, academics, economists, maybe politicians now.

From my point of view, the American financial system - including banks and investment banks - is far safer because of capital and liquidity requirements. Despite all the turbulence so far this year, I don't think anyone's questioning our system. And that, obviously, is a good thing.

I think if we had another set of policies for - not the crisis years, but after that, that we might be growing faster. But we didn't. And some of that was Republicans' [fault], by the way.

I'm a really big believer - this is not a statement about President [Barack] Obama, but whoever is president - that good policy is really important.

I agree with people who say we want more income equality; we want more consumer protection; and we want sounder banks. I agree with all that.

Because of that [Brexit], you're going to have slow growth and, unfortunately, while there may not be huge volatility, there will be volatility.

The country [India] is doing far better.

I don't think you could have a banker serving in a major role in Washington in the next 10 years. I just don't think it's going to happen - it's just not politically feasible - so I don't spend much time thinking about it. Do I think I could do a good job? Maybe. It's possible.

The economic union - creating a big common market, like the United States, so that you can compete across borders. There are common rules, regulations, and simplification, and that is still a good reason, too. When they put their monetary union together, that created a rigidity that made it hard for currency fluctuations. They don't really have a solution to that.

You have your own culture and your own ways of doing things. I hope Japan continues on this path.

We've seen the volatility at dollar-yen, U.S. Treasurys, JGBs (Japanese government bonds), German bunds.

The goal of what Japan's central bank is doing is to create growth. If it actually creates growth, in the long run, it will lead to appreciation.

I think the politics have gotten better in the United States, which makes it easier to pass legislation, budgets and treaties.