Courtesy of Pam Martens.
Cover of the German Magazine, Der Spiegel, November 5, 2012
Last November, one of Europe’s largest publications, the German news magazine Der Spiegel, splashed a terminally ill Uncle Sam on its front cover. Inside we are told that “Many developing countries are now looking to China instead of the US as a role model on how to structure a country. They are no longer seeking the light of the American beacon on the horizon.”
One of the reasons cited by the article for America’s decline is that our best and brightest no longer focus their talents and energies on enriching America’s future, but rush to Wall Street to line their own pockets: “About a third of the students in every graduating class at Harvard University accepts jobs in investment banking and consulting, or with hedge funds — that is, industries that produce one thing above all: fast money…” reads the article.
Last week, Wall Street’s insufferable fixation on fast money without regard to the dimming American beacon came into focus when the Chairman and CEO of our country’s largest bank, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, actually bragged in public of his outsized wealth by putting down a lower salaried Wall Street employee at the company’s own investor conference.
The question was a hypothetical one, posed by banking analyst Mike Mayo, regarding whether higher capital at rival bank UBS might create a competitive advantage against JPMorgan. Dimon responded:
Dimon: “You would go to UBS and not JPMorgan?”
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