By: Chriss W. Street
If there was an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesAward for the best acting performance by a CEO, Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Bank would surely win the Oscar for his dismissal of a $2 billion off-shore derivative loss as “a complete tempest in a teapot.” Dimon tried to use all his theatrical skills to distract the American public from discovering the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy of loaning money to banks at zero-interest-rates has made derivative trading wildly profitable, but made lending to American businesses less profitable. As fallout from the J.P. Morgan fiasco exposes the bloated derivative activities of major banks, the Federal Reserve will be forced to terminate the zero interest rate policy and let rates rise to retard bank speculative actions. Higher interest rates will stimulate banks to make more commercial and industrial loans, resulting in higher U.S. economic growth. Continue reading