Last night, Jon Stewart looked at the kid gloves treatment JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon got when he testified before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday. Special attention was paid to just how much of a tool Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is.
Well, no surprise that Dimon was called down to Capitol Hill to face the mighty Senate Banking Committee.
6/13/2012:
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: You're obviously renowned, rightfully so, I think, as being one of the most, you know, one of the best CEOs in the country.
SEN. JIM DEMINT, R-SC: You've got very big profits.
SEN. MIKE JOHANNS, R-NE: You've got a lot of firepower, and you're... you're just huge!
(shocked audience laughter)
"I don't mean to embarrass you, but it's staggering. Is there a Mrs. Dimon, or...."
But they didn't just haul Jamie Dimon in to tell them how nice and good he is, and how huge he is. They also brought him in there to talk about how terrible they, the Senate, are.
SEN. JIM DEMINT, R-SC (6/13/2012): We can hardly sit in judgment of your losing $2 billion. We lose twice that every day here in Washington.
Does Senator DeMint think that spending money is the same as losing money?? "Hey, you know, I had $10 million dollars here yesterday, but now all I see is this fucking highway. I don't understand. I don't understand what it's doing here. Where's my money? We're going to have to dig this up and find my money." (wild audience applause)
....
See, as bad as the banks and the bankers may have been, the one thing that the Senators wanted to remind everyone is, government is worse.
6/13/2012:
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: Is Dodd-Frank more than marginally made our banking system safer?
JAMIE DIMON: Uh, we supported some elements...
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: I know what you supported. But has it made our financial system safer? ... I'm talking about the regulatory regime that Congress put in place. Has it made our system safer?
JAMIE DIMON: I don't know.
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: OK. One of your peers, not quite as well-known as you but fairly close, believes not.
"So I'm gonna ask you one more time. Look at me as I ask you. (shakes head "no") Did the Dodd-Frank legislation make us safer? (nods head "yes") Are you opposed to the Dodd-Frank legislation?"
Actually, Bob Corker does raise a pretty good point. The Dodd-Frank legislation has not done enough to make our banking system safer. Of course, it might have done better if it was a little bit more stringent. But apparently, one Senator Bob Corker voted against provisions like banning naked credit default swaps, keeping banks from getting too big to fail, and opposed reinstating the Glass-Steagall rules that kept banks from gambling with the money depositors had in the first place. Oh, and then there's this.
CHUCK TODD (4/1/2010): Republican Senator Bob Corker now says he plans to oppose Senator Dodd's plan to reform the banking system.
Must be nice to be a Republican Senator sometimes. 'Cause you get the fun of breaking shit, and the joy of complaining that the shit you just broke doesn't work. (wild audience applause)
Video and full transcript below the fold.
As you remember, I want to take you back a bit, somewhere around four years ago, our economy experienced a cyclical fiscal phenomenon known as a catastrophuck, when our largest financial institutions began to collapse after making incredibly risky bets. Basically using our pension money to gamble on the value of our houses.
Because apparently the business of just taking your money and then loaning it out to other people at slightly higher interest rates is just too reliable. Bank after bank, swallowed in the aftermath. Lehman and Bear Stearns, done. Merrill, dead, sold for parts. WaMu and Goldman, you get the idea. Nobody did well... but one. JPMorgan Chase, and their fearless leader Jamie Dimon.
ERIC BOLLING (3/11/2009): Jamie Dimon seems to be the one guy who you trust and you believe in.
NEWS REPORT (1/13/2010): ... Jamie Dimon, the near collapse of the banking industry, good for the JPMorgan chief, burnishing his reputation as a superhero CEO ...
JAMIE DIMON (2/13/2012): And we don't make huge bets.
You know, in the financial world, you don't normally hear praise like that, unless it's Donald Trump talking about... you know. (in Donald Trump voice) "People don't expect someone this handsome to be this smart and rich."
Well anyway, guess what happened last month?
CAROL COSTELLO (5/22/2012): Lawmakers are taking at JPMorgan's staggering losses and the shudder it sent through Wall Street. The nation's largest bank first estimating it lost about $2 billion dollars on risky investments.
(gasps for air) $2 billion dollars on risky investments!! "But we don't make those bets." That is an absurd amount of money! There's nothing you can say that makes that look good.
CAROL COSTELLO (5/22/2012): Experts now say those losses could be closer to $7 billion.
(audience groans)
OK, the $2 billion's looking pretty good now, I apologize. I was incorrect about the $2. What gives, Jamie Dimon? You were the banker, you were Neo! You were The One, who didn't make these big risky bets.
JAMIE DIMON (5/10/2012): The portfolio has proven to be riskier, more volatile, and less effective an economic hedge than we thought.
That is the best way to describe shitty bets I have ever heard. I didn't make a bet, it's a hedge! I didn't get wiped out and lose all my money, it's just that eight the hard way has proven a riskier, more volatile economic hedge than I thought! Well, no surprise that Dimon was called down to Capitol Hill to face the mighty Senate Banking Committee.
6/13/2012:
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: You're obviously renowned, rightfully so, I think, as being one of the most, you know, one of the best CEOs in the country.
SEN. JIM DEMINT, R-SC: You've got very big profits.
SEN. MIKE JOHANNS, R-NE: You've got a lot of firepower, and you're... you're just huge!
(shocked audience laughter)
"I don't mean to embarrass you, but it's staggering. Is there a Mrs. Dimon, or...."
But they didn't just haul Jamie Dimon in to tell them how nice and good he is, and how huge he is. They also brought him in there to talk about how terrible they, the Senate, are.
SEN. JIM DEMINT, R-SC (6/13/2012): We can hardly sit in judgment of your losing $2 billion. We lose twice that every day here in Washington.
Does Senator DeMint think that spending money is the same as losing money?? "Hey, you know, I had $10 million dollars here yesterday, but now all I see is this fucking highway. I don't understand. I don't understand what it's doing here. Where's my money? We're going to have to dig this up and find my money." (wild audience applause)
What is going on with this panel of Senators? They're sucking up to Jamie Dimon like they're on JPMorgan's payroll.
REPORTER (5/22/2012): The biggest campaign donor to many members of the banking committee is JPMorgan Chase.
Well, what kind of treatment does money like that get you?
6/13/2012:
SEN. MIKE CRAPO, R-ID: What should the function of the regulators be? ... What other areas of oversight would be the most effective for us?
SEN. JIM DEMINT, R-SC: I would like to come away from the hearing today with some ideas on what you think we need to do.
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: We're here quizzing you. If you were sitting on this side of the dais, what would you do to make our system safer than it is?
(audience groans in laughter)
Why don't you just put Jamie Dimon in a chair like Cee Lo's from The Voice, and if he hears something he likes, boom. You just earned yourself another term in Congress.
The truth is, the person hardest on Jamie Dimon, was Jamie Dimon.
JAMIE DIMON (6/13/2012): We will lose some of our shareholders' money, and for that, we feel terrible. ... When I made that statement, I was dead wrong. ... We've let a lot of people down, and we are very sorry for it. ... Under any name, whatever you call it, I will not defend it, it violated common sense, in my opinion.
ARTIE FULKIN: I'm not asking, I'm telling with this. Kick my ass.
(wild audience applause)
See, as bad as the banks and the bankers may have been, the one thing that the Senators wanted to remind everyone is, government is worse.
6/13/2012:
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: Is Dodd-Frank more than marginally made our banking system safer?
JAMIE DIMON: Uh, we supported some elements...
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: I know what you supported. But has it made our financial system safer? ... I'm talking about the regulatory regime that Congress put in place. Has it made our system safer?
JAMIE DIMON: I don't know.
SEN. BOB CORKER, R-TN: OK. One of your peers, not quite as well-known as you but fairly close, believes not.
"So I'm gonna ask you one more time. Look at me as I ask you. (shakes head "no") Did the Dodd-Frank legislation make us safer? (nods head "yes") Are you opposed to the Dodd-Frank legislation?"
Actually, Bob Corker does raise a pretty good point. The Dodd-Frank legislation has not done enough to make our banking system safer. Of course, it might have done better if it was a little bit more stringent. But apparently, one Senator Bob Corker voted against provisions like banning naked credit default swaps, keeping banks from getting too big to fail, and opposed reinstating the Glass-Steagall rules that kept banks from gambling with the money depositors had in the first place. Oh, and then there's this.
CHUCK TODD (4/1/2010): Republican Senator Bob Corker now says he plans to oppose Senator Dodd's plan to reform the banking system.
Must be nice to be a Republican Senator sometimes. 'Cause you get the fun of breaking shit, and the joy of complaining that the shit you just broke doesn't work. (wild audience applause) We'll be right back.
Aasif Mandvi then filed a
must-see report about what
Simplot is putting in the water supply in Idaho.
Meanwhile, Stephen looked at how several states have
marijuana legalization on the ballot for November, and how that may help Obama's numbers... if stoners actually showed up to vote.
He then looked at the latest in super PAC spending, and how Linda Lingle (R-HI) is actually
starting HER OWN CABLE CHANNEL soon.
He then had another
Cheating Death segment.
Jon talked with actress Catherine Zeta-Jones about the new movie adaptation of Rock of Ages, and Stephen talked with journalist Steve Coll about ExxonMobil.