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Welcome to Capital Account. We come to you live from our bunker deep within the newsroom's "fortress balance sheet," because Jamie Dimon was on Capitol Hill testifying about JP Morgan's multi-billion dollar trading loss. We headed to the hill with the protection of a full body suit that repels cronyism and dirty deals...we tried to enter through a revolving door so as not to raise any eyebrows, but there was not one to be found! Perhaps this is only for the seasoned politicians. In any case, Lauren did manage to infiltrate the Capitol one way or another, and she brings you the real story from inside the lion's den!
Now, we were hoping we would see a repeat of the Valachi mafia hearings of the 1960s, where the country really got some insight into the workings of organized crime: the mafia. Because, as our guest Wall Street correspondent for Marketplace Heidi N. Moore put it, "the mafia has better disclosure than the banking industry." Sadly, this type of scrutiny was not applied to Jamie Dimon today. Instead, what we saw was lawmakers who have JP Morgan to thank as a major contributor, asking Jamie Dimon how they should better regulate JP Morgan! We interview Marketplace's Heidi Moore on Capitol Hill, fresh from the hearings, to assess everything of value that came out of the Don's deposition!
Plus we're wondering if Banker Bonus Arbitrage is upon us, when "toxic" assets unloaded on bankers turn out to be the gift that keeps on giving. Or perhaps are we seeing a breed of genetically mutated bank executives, who are the only ones that can digest toxic assets? Either way, we had to ask after a Reuters report raised a few eyebrows around the Capital Account studio. Demetri and Lauren give you their take on our segment of Loose Change.
