JPMorgan Annihilates the Case Against Reform

Ever since the bottom fell out of the financial markets in late 2008, Jamie Dimon has had one overriding message for Washington: Don’t crucify me for the sins of other banks. Or, as Dimon told me two years ago: “It’s never fair to punish everybody regardless of their behavior. There are good banks and bad banks just like there are good politicians and bad politicians.” Other megabanks had vaporized themselves by piling on preposterous amounts of risk—often risks they only dimly understood. But Dimon ran JP Morgan like the rector of a Catholic prep school, and the bank breezed through the crisis thanks to his exacting standards. He didn’t need the government second-guessing him.