The problem is not that the U.S. economy won't be able to take care of its citizens - it is that taking away benefits, creating intergenerational warfare, and scapegoating will make for very difficult and bad politics. This is a tragedy that we can see coming. Early action would be relatively painless.
Interpretation
The U.S. economy can support its citizens, but poor political choices may lead to social strife and challenges.
In this quote, Jamie Dimon highlights the underlying issues facing the U.S. economy as it relates to social support and benefits for citizens. He warns that political decisions that strip away these benefits or create divides among different generations could lead to a tragic future. Dimon advocates for proactive measures to avoid this outcome, suggesting that early intervention is both necessary and could be done with minimal pain.
In practice
In a public speech about healthcare reform, this quote can illustrate the importance of maintaining benefits for citizens.
Business has to have a seat at the table. Infrastructure isn't going to be built properly if business doesn't have a seat at the table. A school is not going to happen if businesses don't work with schools about what kind of jobs they really need.
If you're blindly loyal to me, then you're just acting like a crony of mine. If you say you admire me because of the principles for which I stand, I understand that, but then you also have the right to call me to the carpet when you think I'm falling short.
I'm a little bit of an eternal optimist. People always say to me, 'If you go do this and it fails, what are you going to do?' I don't care. I'm going to give it my best shot. That's what I'm going to do. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. And I'll try again.
You don't run a business hoping you don't have a recession.
It is vital for officials and regulators to have input from people within our businesses who understand the intricacies of how financial markets operate and the consequences of certain policy decisions.
We weren't getting a fair deal on the budget and I wasn't going to have it. There's a great strand of equity and fairness in the British people - this is our characteristic. There's not a strand of equity and fairness in Europe - they're out to get as much as they can. That's one of those enormous differences. So I tackled it on that basis.
The USA is a threat to world peace. Who are they to pretend that they are the policemen of the world, the ones that should decide for the people of Iraq what should be done with their government and their leadership. All that [the USA] wants is Iraqi oil. [Blair is] simply the foreign minister of the United States. He is no longer prime minister of Britain.
The constitution has broken down. We have no enemies except the ones we select and direct towards the nearest nuclear bombs. They need an enemy to provoke, a diversion. This is the mentality of tenth-rate people who are in politics because corporate America likes them. They are malleable. They give them contracts to build missile shields that will never work. It's deeply corrupt.
Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.
People tend to judge presidents on how the economy performs, and yet we don't expect them to have the power to do much about it. Or we don't want them to exercise that power, if they were to have it.
We mean by 'politics' the people's business - the most important business there is.
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