In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee today, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon used a softball question from Sen. DeMint to state his objections to the Dodd-Frank regulations:
What we set up is a system with more and more regulators, we don’t know actually know who has jurisdiction over many of the issues we are dealing with anymore…I would prefer a simple, clean, strong regulatory system, with real intelligent design, but that’s not what we did.
Well, who wouldn’t prefer such a system? The problem is that Dimon, as far as I know, hasn’t taken the trouble to explain what it might look like. A return to the Glass-Steagall separation between commercial and investment banking, perhaps? What about the Volcker Rule? Apparently not. In fact, Dimon took the opportunity later in his testimony to complain about the dangers of overly simplistic regulation, including ostensibly artificial distinction between different forms of trading (at 11:51) .
I make no claims to expertise on the technical issues involved here. But the obvious tension between the demands for simpler, more transparent regulation and focused attention on the minutiae of banking practices make it very difficult to take Dimon and his allies seriously when they say that they’re open to reform of the practices that led us to the brink of economic collapse. Pro-business types like to remind us that we shouldn’t rely blindly on the impartiality and competence of regulators. Shouldn’t we apply the same standards to bankers–especially when they’re playing with taxpayers’ money?
Ed Marimba 
TomB 
Jamie Dimon is the poster boy for crony capitalism and corporate welfare. It’s everything that’s wrong with government and corporate collusion. If it wasn’t for the bailouts he would probably be wiped out and bankrupt and living under a bridge somewhere. In the end,he gives 98% of all other businessmen a bad name. He helps produce the brickbats that the Left throws against the American Free Enterprise System. If investigated,his firm could be accused of naked short selling,front running,inside trading and a list of other illegal and questionable practices. He has also used his firm,along with others,in collusion with the U.S.Treasury to manipulate and beat down the price of gold and silver. If we had a proper regulatory system,Jamie diamon would have been shut down years ago.