It’s all about the power of banks and bankers and it always has been
In Washington, One Bank Chief Still Holds Sway
Published: July 18, 2009
WASHINGTON — Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, will hold a meeting of his board here in the nation’s capital for the first time on Monday, with a special guest expected: the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.
Mr. Emanuel’s appearance would underscore the pull of Mr. Dimon, who amid the disgrace of his industry has emerged as President Obama’s favorite banker, and in turn, the envy of his Wall Street rivals. It also reflects a good return on what Mr. Dimon has labeled his company’s “seventh line of business” — government relations.
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Meanwhile, the company’s reputation could be tarnished by investigations into the crisis. Among them, JPMorgan is under scrutiny from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible antitrust and securities law violations, including derivatives deals with local governments.
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Mr. Dimon’s midcareer exile took him from his native New York to Chicago. There he rebuilt his career, reviving BankOne and merging it with JPMorgan in 2004 before returning to New York full time in 2007. In Chicago, he got to know the fast-rising Mr. Obama and his friends.
Mr. Dimon and Mr. Geithner know each other well from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Mr. Geithner was president and, as such, a JPMorgan regulator. Mr. Dimon sits on the New York Fed’s board. The two men spent untold hours negotiating in 2008 when the government JPMorgan to buy some of Bear Stearns’s assets and Washington Mutual to prevent their collapse.
(bold emphasis mine) here
When you are done reading that story check out how the original J.P.Morgan began influencing American politics:
JP Morgan biography
The most influential banker in history
John Pierpont (JP) Morgan was born on April 17, 1837 in Hartford, Connecticut to parents Juniet Spencer Morgan and Juliet (Pierpont) Morgan. His father was a partner of the firm George Peabody & Co. so by no means was JP Morgan born into a poor family. After he completed school at the English school in Boston, he went to the University of Gottingen in Germany
When he returned to the US in 1857 he got a job working for the private banking house Duncan, Sherman and Company. In 1860 he was appointed as the American agent and attorney for George Peabody & Company in which his father was a partner. This later became J.S. Morgan & Co and when his father died in 1890 he left it to JP Morgan giving him important European connections and enabling him to run a large foreign reserve business. here: