Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase
Jamie Dimon REVEALS what happened in closed-door meeting with Mamdani
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon joins 'Mornings with Maria' to discuss inflation risks, consumer spending, Federal Reserve policy and why he believes fixing government policy could boost economic growth.
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About Jamie Dimon
Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has been active in public forums discussing geopolitical risks, the U.S. economy, and artificial intelligence. At the Reagan National Economic Forum in May 2026, Dimon said that global “tectonic plates” — including the war in Ukraine, the conflict in Iran, remilitarization, and the restructuring of trade — are still shifting and “may very well affect the future of the free world.” He described the U.S. economy as “pretty good,” with 2% growth and low unemployment, but noted that inflation is “ticking up” and called the deficit “huge.” He described equity markets as “exuberant,” adding that while earnings growth may justify current levels, there is also “hype” and low credit spreads, which he said represent a risk. Dimon also warned that risks posed by Anthropic’s Mythos AI model are a “real issue,” and argued that access to advanced AI must be controlled, saying “you’re giving ballistic missiles to individuals with Mythos.” Dimon also addressed domestic policy and business strategy. He called on politicians to “sit down and fix policy” rather than raise taxes or increase spending, arguing that better policy could boost economic growth by 1%. He described a closed-door meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying he “said everything I wanted to say” and noted that he has “seen mayors grow into the job” but others “fail because they can’t get themselves out of a paper bag or ideology blinds them to realistic real world policy.” On JPMorgan’s operations, Dimon said the bank will likely hire more workers for AI-related roles and fewer traditional bankers. He also said the bank plans to reduce headcount in some areas through natural attrition over time. Dimon reiterated that JPMorgan will redeploy and retrain its employees rather than lay them off, and noted the bank announced the “American Dream Initiative” to expand small-business lending, mortgages, and financial education.
Transcript (24 segments)
C
Cheryl0:01
First, it is time for the hot topic of the hour. As Maria is live this morning from the Reagan National Economic Forum. The top minds of business are gathering there to exchange ideas on American enterprise and economic prosperity. Maria sat down with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in California and he gave her a sense of the economy right now, the new leadership at the Federal Reserve and what is driving policy in New York City. Watch.
M
Maria0:29
I want to get your take. The largest bank, you've got so much exposure to the consumer and to housing as well as to commercial and business. How would you characterize the economy right now? Give us your sense of the macro story.
J
Jamie Dimon0:42
It's pretty good, which all your viewers know. The economy growing at 2%, unemployment's low, 4.3%, wages not going up that much anymore. Corporate debt is not that high. Consumer debt is actually not that high. Inflation is ticking up. That's not good. You have a lot of stimulus, the one big beautiful bill, 300 billion in stimulus, additional spend in AI, additional stimulus. Dereg allows people to put money to work in a better way. A lot of those things are good. We have a huge deficit. That's a stimulus that ends up in corporate profits, so corporate profits are up huge this year. So people are feeling good, the stock prices are up, that's all good. There may be negatives. The one you could see a little bit is inflation going up.
M
Maria1:28
Have you seen inflation cutting into consumers' ability to actually spend? Are they cutting into their savings?
J
Jamie Dimon1:36
Yes. You have to separate consumers into various segments. High end, it doesn't do anything. The high gas prices, a dollar of gas is $100 billion a year. But of course it affects lower income folks much more and for them they have to cut back something else or do something. So what has to happen for some is they go into savings and they still spend and borrowing is going up a little bit. It might not be sustainable forever.
M
Maria2:04
You feel good about where we are now in the economy even though inflation is ticking up.
J
Jamie Dimon2:08
I feel okay. I'm a little more worried about those people. It's the other things I worry about that's a long list of serious issues that have to be dealt with. I don't know how you are going to fix the economy this year. You can't put them in a base forecast. They are large items. I refer to them as tectonic plates moving around.
M
Maria2:33
Kevin Warsh said he wants to make the Fed's balance sheet smaller. What does that mean for JPMorgan? What does it mean for a bank like yours because you have to keep money at the Federal Reserve?
J
Jamie Dimon2:47
I think he's right, the Fed shouldn't have to intervene every single time there's a kerfuffle in the markets. To do it, he's got to change some of the regulations, LCR and certain rules to give banks more flexibility. The important thing is, it's not deregulate for banks to make money and go bankrupt. I think you do it to make the system safer. I think he probably knows that. We give a lot of reports to the Fed about how it could be done. Secretary Bessent has spoken about it. The banks have so much capital and liquidity, it's a good question to say you can never use it again in your life. It's $1.2 trillion in basic cash and treasuries, can never use for productive purposes other than safety which is a good one but we could do other ones for more safety and we could intervene in the markets.
M
Maria3:51
Everything is about policy. Look at the policy in New York and California. You have people leaving California because of the potential millionaire's tax. What do you want to say about Mamdani in New York?
J
Jamie Dimon4:01
Good policy is free. I feel like telling the politicians don't try to raise more taxes or spend more money. Sit down and fix policy and I think you can grow 1% faster. I believe that. And the public knows you can't get roads built or bridges...
M
Maria4:20
That's regulation.
J
Jamie Dimon4:22
The Baltimore bridge was supposed to be built by now.
M
Maria4:25
You've been talking about this for so long.
J
Jamie Dimon4:27
It's frustrating, it's embarrassing, it hurts the civilians of the country. I had a meeting with Mamdani. I said everything I wanted to say. I've seen mayors grow into the job. He's running the city of 300,000 employees now. He's never had a job like that. I've seen mayors who just... they fail because they can't get themselves out of a paper bag or ideology blinds them to realistic real world policy and so we'll see. If I can help do the good stuff, I'll be happy to do that.
M
Maria5:02
Give me a break. He did a video in front of Ken Griffin's house. That's a security issue.
J
Jamie Dimon5:07
I agree. My guess is he probably regrets that but you've got to ask him that.
M
Maria5:14
We've got the full interview coming up here of Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon coming up. I'm here with Liz Peek right now and Liz, you've talked to a lot of people already this morning. Your reaction to Jamie Dimon. What struck you most?
L
Liz Peek5:31
I think on his economic message it's pretty clear that everything has to do with the war in Iran. Unfortunately, that's kind of the beginning and the end because what's he's worried about? He's worried about inflation. So are Americans. They don't like $4 gasoline. The only thing that will change that is a resolution where the strait is open, we get oil flowing. I think Bessent is right. There's a lot of oil sitting in tankers, very quickly it gets to market and the price begins to go down but if that doesn't happen anytime soon I think inflation's going to be the uppermost issue on everybody's mind. Obviously we're experiencing a boom in productivity, a boom in investment, so far the consumer has been the other leg of the economic driver here doing quite well and we're hoping... obviously we hope that all these things get resolved and the consumer feels better and continues to spend because that's got to be the good outlook. On Mamdani, good luck with his optimism. I'm not so positive.
M
Maria6:33
Great analysis as usual. President Trump has to walk this balance right now. On one hand he's got to eliminate this potential nuclear threat. And on the other hand he's got to get oil and gas down before the midterm elections.
J
Jamie Dimon6:45
But he established red lines, no nukes, no enrichment, get rid of the enriched uranium you have, et cetera. I think he's totally right. You've got to stick with that. Otherwise people will say what was it for? You've got to get to those agreements and I agree. I mean, it is a very tough thing but good for him for holding fast.
M
Maria7:07
When you look at the supply and demand situation we reported so many times that the U.S. right now is producing more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, Cheryl. And so you would imagine just supply and demand, you've got all that oil on the market. Look, UAE walked out of OPEC, they don't have to follow quotas anymore. Just the simple supply of oil on the market should send prices lower at some point but we've got to get out of the conflict.
C
Cheryl7:31
President Trump addressed it in the cabinet meeting, the 12th of his second term. He talked about the fact that you have ships that have been coming to the Gulf of America that are buying and exporting and taking away American oil. And Maria, thank you for asking Jamie Dimon about Zohran Mamdani. I can't wait to hear more of that interview because what he said, fix policy, fix roads, build bridges, thank you, Maria, for bringing that up. I can't wait to hear more.
M
Maria8:00
Yeah. Well, thanks. We've got the whole interview coming up. He told me about the meeting that they had and he made sure to say what he had to say. I'll have more of the interview coming up this morning, all morning long. We'll take a short break and come back. Check markets, the melt-up continues this morning with the Dow Industrials up another 60 right four.