JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon ripped the current state of the U.S. economy, saying growth is being held back by a lack of action in Washington.
He has been outspoken on a number of issues lately, particularly regarding the gridlock in Congress and the need for regulation and tax reform. He repeated those criticisms and added a few during an appearance Tuesday at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor.
“All I’ve ever said is if we did things right, we’d be growing at 3 percent,” Dimon said.
Dimon said the country needs to rethink its approach to regulation. Post-financial crisis rules implemented for the financial system have held back business activity and denied funding particularly to small-business startups.
In addition, he called for changes to immigration, education and the labor force.
“It’s a long recovery, but it’s half of what we would have had in a normal recovery,” Dimon said. “Ask any small business, any of you in this audience, what have regulations done. They’re crippling certain businesses.”
Dimon also spoke out about bitcoin at a separate appearnce, telling a banking conference in New York that the cryptocurrency is a fraud and “someone is going to get killed.”