Jamie Dimon accuses Elizabeth Warren of vilifying 'successful people'
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon waded into the political arena this week, becoming the latest Wall Street executive to criticize Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s attacks on big business and the ultra-wealthy.
During an interview with CNBC, Dimon — who’s worth $1.6 billion — said that Warren, a frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, uses some “pretty harsh words” against billionaires and Wall Street.
“Some would say that she vilifies successful people,” he said. “I don’t like vilifying anybody. I think we should applaud successful people.”
The Massachusetts senator frequently rails against the ultra-wealthy and has proposed a wealth tax to fund a number of sweeping plans, including Medicare-for-all, canceling student loan debt for the majority of Americans and providing universal child care, that she’s introduced. Last week, Warren unveiled a proposal detailing how she would pay for her $20.5 trillion single-payer health-care system, including a 6 percent levy on fortunes worth more than $1 billion.
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While Dimon previously said that he supports a progressive income tax structure and higher taxes on the wealthy, he warned that Warren’s proposed Accountable Capitalism Act would change the “complete nature of how you run a corporation.” The act, introduced in April, would make it easier to criminally charge and jail corporate executives for alleged abuses by their companies.
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The proposal pushes additional oversight on Wall Street by expanding criminal liability to any corporate executive who oversees a company that ultimately “causes severe and widespread harm to families,” she said at the time. Warren specifically pointed to the 2008 financial crisis, when no executives were ever prosecuted for their role in causing it.
“I think we have to look at [how] America was founded on free enterprise; freedom and free enterprise are interchangeable,” Dimon said. “If people have very specific things that we should do different, then we should think about doing them different.”
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks during a house party, Friday, Sept. 20, 2019, in Mount Vernon, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
But Warren fired back in a tweet, saying that “Dimon and his buddies” are successful because of “opportunities, workforce and public services that we all paid for,” and therefore should pay more in taxes.
“The fact that they've reacted so strongly—so angrily!—to being asked to chip in more tells you all you need to know,” she said. “The system is working great for the wealthy and well-connected, and Jamie Dimon doesn't want that to change. I'm going to fight to make sure it works for everyone.”
Dimon’s comments came one day after Warren took a swipe at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for the social media company’s decision to ban political ads — but still allow companies with a vested interest in the political agenda to pay for ads.
“Twitter's new ad policy will allow fossil fuel companies to buy ads defending themselves and spreading misleading info — but won't allow organizations fighting the climate crisis to buy ads holding those companies accountable,” Warren wrote in a tweet. “We need accountability.”
However, Dorsey maintained that the company has not yet published the details on which political ads would and would not be allowed.
“We haven’t announced our new rules yet. They come out 11/15. Taking all this into consideration,” Dorsey wrote.