Jamie Dimon Issues Warning About 2024-2025 Economy

Draft script:

According to a CNBC article published on 17 January 2024, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase is issuing a strong warning about the U.S. economy in 2024 and 2025. Specifically, Jamie Dimon is concerned about a combination of financial and geopolitical risks. Here’s the take-home quote from Dimon: “You have all these very powerful forces that are going to be affecting us in ’24 and ’25.”

Who is Jamie Dimon? As CEO of JP Morgan Chase and a billionaire, Dimon represents a powerful figure when it comes to the economies of the United States and the world. He is occasionally mentioned as a presidential candidate, and he has proven to be an astute observer of politics, money, and the interactions between the two.

While exerting considerable influence on U.S. monetary policy, Dimon remains an untouchable figure when it comes to suspicious activity. Perhaps these two factors are related. For example, Dimon knew about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, but he managed to avoid close inspection, even though Epstein was a long-time client of JP Morgan Chase. Such is the power of a billionaire, especially when he happens to be the CEO of a bank deemed too big to fail.

Lest you believe Dimon to be a genius, the final line from the CNBC article with which I started this video comes from Dimon. He is referring to the Ukraine conflict: “We have to teach the American public that this is about freedom and democracy for the free world, and that’s why this battle is being fought.” First of all, the United States is not a democracy. It was designed as a republic. It remains a republic. In my dreams, and perhaps yours, it remains a republic. In reality, the United States bears a strong resemblance to a fascist country. It possesses characteristics commonly ascribed to fascism, as pointed out two decades ago by Laurence Britt. Britt’s novel, titled June, 2004, depicts the future of the United States as dominated by right-wing extremists. As with epic books by George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, and Aldous Huxley, Britt’s novel depicts a future deemed unimaginable when it was published in June 1998. More than 25 years later, it doesn’t seem so unimaginable.

According to Dimon, the forever-growing stock market in the U.S. has reduced concern from investors. I suspect that these investors, and most other people, do not recognize that market indexes trail economic growth. They indicate only what has already happened, not what lies ahead. If you’re looking to stock-market indexes for comfort about the economy, then you’re looking in the wrong place. A suitable analog is tallying the number of deaths after a battle has occurred. Perhaps you’re familiar with the expression too little, too late.

Adding proverbial fuel to the proverbial fire with respect to the economy, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon added that he, too, was concerned about the soaring U.S. debt. Goldman Sachs is another huge U.S. bank with another wealthy CEO. According to CEO Solomon, the U.S. debt is “a big risk issue that we’re going to have to deal with and reckon with, it just might not happen in the next six months.” He made this statement in mid-January of this year, three months ago. Although “it just might not happen in the next 6 months,” or even the next 12 months, it still poses a threat. Our collective debt will never be addressed if we continue to wage endless wars, including proxy wars.

By the way, welfare and education are not causing this country’s enormous debt. You need only look at the bloated military budget to see where the problem lies. Related to this topic, I have previously pointed out the link between the economy and the environment, specifically referring to the reduction in aerosol masking as the economy slows.

On the topic of aerosol masking, the people calling for the reduction or cessation of economic activity are promoting the fastest path to the loss of all life on Earth. Many of them know this. Still, they can’t seem to pull themselves out of self-induced ignorance and stupidity.

When it comes to never-ending economic growth, I’m no fan of the impossible. However, I’m also no fan of shrinking the economy, an approach called degrowth by people who like to invent and apply new names when existing words will suffice. In addition, I recognize the obvious implications of a situation that offers no escape from the trap we’ve created for ourselves. That approach goes back more than 70,000 years to the Cognitive Revolution. In the absence of a time machine, we’re stuck in a trap with no foreseeable way out. As should be obvious, it’s neither your fault nor mine.

In a panel discussion held on 26 January 2024, Dimon agreed with Solomon’s comment about soaring U.S. debt. At that time, Dimon indicated that the ever-increasing U.S. debt likely will trigger a rebellion in markets around the world. Specifically, he expressed concern about the $7.6 trillion in U.S. government debt held by foreign entities such as Japan and China. Among his many comments, he said, concerning foreign entities holding U.S. debt: “That is the worst possible way to do it. It is a cliff. We see the cliff. It’s about 10 years out. We’re going 60 miles an hour.”

I seriously doubt we need to worry about a cliff 10 years in the future. I strongly suspect we will run out of habitat for human animals, and therefore will run out of human animals, before a decade passes. Still, assuming the sources I reference are incorrect about timing, you can add U.S. debt to the many other forces underlying the demise of habitat for humans and therefore all life on Earth.

I’d be very pleased to be producing videos a decade from now. For one thing, I suspect I’d be a lot better at it by then. We would all appreciate that.