Romney’s Defense Of JPMorgan: They Lost, Someone Else Gained

Mitt Romney defends JPMorgan in that the $2 billion they lost was a gain for someone else.

“A trading loss of this nature is something from which JPMorgan should learn, and I think as well regulators should look at it just to understand what happened and why it happened. But…this was not a loss to the taxpayers of America. This was a loss to shareholders and owners of JPMorgan and that’s the way America works Some people experienced a loss in this case because of a bad decision. By the way, there was someone who made a gain. The $2 billion JPMorgan lost someone else gained.”

A larger loss could have fallen to the taxpayer because as a federally regulated bank, JPMorgan benefits from depositors insurance. The as-yet unimplemented Volcker Rule in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law is meant to prevent federally backstopped banks from making the kinds of risky bets JPMorgan took. Romney would repeal that law. He also hopes regulators and legislators don’t react to the close call.

“I would not rush to pass new legislation or new regulation,” Romney said. “This is, in the normal course of business, a large loss but certainly not one which is crippling or threatening to the institution.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.