SEPT. 18, 2015 – Jamie Dimon, president, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd that a “series of things,” including the debt ceiling crisis, government shutdowns and an unfinished immigration policy have slowed America’s economic growth.
“I give President Bush, President Obama, Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner, Ben Bernanke enormous credit for stopping it from getting worse,” said Dimon, in reference to the recession. “And I think if they had not taken a lot of those actions it likely would have gotten worse.”
Tune into “Meet the Press” this Sunday for more from Dimon’s interview as well as interviews with Republican presidential candidates Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) and Dr. Ben Carson.
A transcript of this preview is below, and video is available on NBCNews.com: http://nbcnews.to/1YlKj4u
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MANDATORY CREDIT: NBC NEWS’ “MEET THE PRESS” / CHUCK TODD
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CHUCK TODD:
The history of– of coming out of recessions, usually there’s a faster acceleration in economic growth. We’re not seeing that here, why?
JAMIE DIMON:
I give– President Bush, President Obama, Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner, Ben Bernanke enormous credit for stopping it from getting worse. And I think if they had not taken a lot of those actions it likely woulda gotten worse. And they didn’t wanna take the risk, nor do I think they should have.
I think that since then–I’m not going to blame any side here– we’ve had a series of things which I think just slowed things down. And– for example, the debt ceiling crisis, government shutdowns– gridlock on taxes, budgets– we didn’t finish immigration policy, th– those things are not good for America. And I think had not– I can never prove this. I think had we done all those things including like—Simpson-Bowles, Chuck Schumer and McCain came up with– an immigration–
CHUCK TODD:
Immigration.
JAMIE DIMON:
–plan, detailed immigration plan which is– which is moral, right and good for the country. If we did the trade, if we do those things we’d be growing a lot faster.
CHUCK TODD:
So you’re blaming Washington. You’re basically saying the economy– we would be at 3.5%, 4% growth without Washington gridlock?
JAMIE DIMON:
Yeah, I’m not going to blame Washington because, you know, remember we elect those people. So you know–
CHUCK TODD:
So you blame us?
JAMIE DIMON:
–blame all of us. You know, that if you– if we want people in Washington to collaborate, let’s elect people who are going to collaborate.
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MEET THE PRESS
“Meet the Press” is where newsmakers come to make news — setting the political agenda and spotlighting the impact Washington decision-making has on people across the country. “Meet the Press” reaches more than 3 million people every Sunday through its broadcasts and millions more through NBCNews.com, the #TweetThePress interview series, Flipboard, and social media platforms. Chuck Todd is the moderator of “Meet the Press” and John Reiss is the executive producer.
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