JPMorgan Chase CEO: 'Why Does The New York Times Hate The Banks?'

The Huffington Post, by Bonnie Kavoussi,  Apr 3, 2012

Jamie Dimon, chief executive of
 JPMorgan Chase, asked New York Times
 columnist Joe Nocera in an elevator a
\ few months ago: "Why does The New
York Times hate the banks?" 

The chief executive of the largest bank in the country just can't stand how the media covers Wall Street.

That's right. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is back in the papers for his thoughts on them. This time, he finds himself quoted by New York Times columnist Joe Nocera asking a straightforward question.

"Why does The New York Times hate the banks?"

This isn't the first time Dimon has put himslef at odds with the media. In late February, he called the percentage of newspaper company revenue paid out to reporters "just damned outrageous," according to Bloomberg News. "Worse than that," he added, "you [the media] don’t even make any money!"

Yet there's evidence that it's the country as a whole, not The New York Times, that hates the banks. According to multiple surveys, the financial industry is one of the most despised in the United States. Banking is viewed the fifth most negatively of any sector, according to Gallup, and HuffPost readers said they hated the banking sector more than any other. Distrust of banks had reached record levels by last summer.

JPMorgan Chase could not be reached for comment.

Americans aren't the biggest fan of Dimon's company either. In fact, JPMorgan Chase has the ninth-worst corporate reputation in the country, according to the market research firm Harris Interactive. Other banks among those companies with the top ten worst reputations include Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citigroup.

Some customers have had enough, with banks losing 40,000 customers on Bank Transfer Day in November, when customers moved their deposits to credit unions.

The Occupy Wall Street movement, which first spread across the country last fall, has focused most of its energy on Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street wrote in its declaration that corporations "have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage" and "have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses."

The risks taken by banks in the lead up to the financial crisis have left the country with 9 million fewer jobs. They also cost taxpayers $34 billion because of the subsequent bailouts, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Meanwhile big banks have continued to charge new fees in an effort to scrape more revenue together before Dodd-Frank's full implementation.

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