OT.

Chase CEO Jamie Dimon: “We Live In A Free. Fucking. Country.”

“There are huge benefits to size,” says Dimon. “We bank Caterpillar in like 40 countries. We can do a $20 billion bridge loan overnight for a company that’s about to do a major acquisition. Size lets us build a $500 million data center that speeds up transactions and invest billions of dollars in products like ATMs and apps that allow your iPhone to deposit checks. We move $2 trillion a day, and you can see it by account, by company. These aren’t, like, little things. And they accrue to the customer. That’s what capitalism is.”

He also takes issue with those who portray of bankers as a greedy, corrupt group.

“Most bankers are decent, honorable people,” Dimon claims. “We’re wrapped up in all this crap right now. We made a mistake. We’re sorry. It doesn’t detract from all the good things we’ve done. I am not responsible for the financial crisis.”

And to those who think that lawmakers are bowing to pressures from Wall Street, Dimon implies that it’s the other way around and that it’s bankers who are running in fear from regulators.

“Everyone is afraid of retaliation and retribution,” he explains. “We recently had an event with a hundred small bankers here, and 85 percent of them said they can’t challenge the regulation because of the potential retribution. That’s a terrible thing. Okay? This is not the Soviet Union. This is the United States of America. That’s what I remember. Guess what?… [shouting] It’s a free. Fucking. Country.”