JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon: I'm Just 'Barely' Still A Democrat

Dimon: I'm Still A Democrat, But Just 'Barely'

Jamie Dimon is angry. So angry, in fact, that he might just switch teams.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO told about 200 people at a conference in Columbus, Ohio that he's still a Democrat, but just "barely," the Columbus Dispatch reports. Dimon argued that partisan fighting in Washington is creating doubt that could cause consumers and businesses to pull back on spending, putting the U.S. economy at risk of falling off of a "fiscal cliff."

Dimon's been getting to know some well-known Republicans rather well in the meantime, like when he reportedly met privately with now-Republican front runner Mitt Romney before a fundraiser in September, according to the New York Post.

If Dimon does switch teams, Obama and his other Democratic colleagues would be at risk of losing major cash. As of 2009, Dimon and his wife had donated more than half a million dollars to Democratic candidates and committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That's almost 12 times what he gave to Republican candidates during the same period.

Dimon's comments come after numerous statements critical of banking reforms, which he says could put the global competitiveness of U.S. banks at risk. In addition, Dimon has blasted the tendency of government officials and the public to lump bankers together in a single group.

The "blanket blame of all banks" for the financial crisis is "a form of discrimination," Dimon said in an interview with Fox News in January. President Obama famously characterized bankers as "fat cats" in a 2009 speech, the significance of which is best seen in Wall Street donors fleeing to Romney.

Dimon also earlier this month blamed government regulations as "the reason things are coming back so slowly." He reiterated his criticism a few days later at a New York Stock Exchange event, saying he didn't "think government policy had anything to do with" recent job creation.

That's not to say Dimon has opposed all of the administration's ideas. He told New York Magazine in February that he would support taxing capital gains -- a form of investment income that is largely the purview of the rich -- at higher rates than other income.

“Have a higher tax rate,” Dimon told NYMag. “If you said there’d be a certain percent rate for people making over a million dollars and a higher percent rate for people making over $10 million, no problem with me.”

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