Reeling from a massive $2 billion loss on a risky bet, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has launched a campaign of contrition to contain the damage. "We made a terrible, egregious mistake and there's almost no excuse for it," he told NBC's Meet the Press. The country's biggest bank has also parted ways with three executives, including Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew, a veteran at the company and reportedly one of Dimon's most trusted allies. However, condemnation is still raining down on Dimon, who's vociferously opposed the sort of strong government regulation of Wall Street that critics say is necessary to prevent risky bets from causing a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. Should JPMorgan fire Dimon?
Yes. He clearly isn't fit to lead: It's increasingly clear that Wall Street banks are essentially "playing incredibly complex computer games with unimaginable sums of other people's money," says Alex Pareene at Salon. But when rumors of the bad trade bubbled to the surface a month ago, Dimon said there was nothing to worry about, meaning he either lied or doesn't understand the complex trades his own company is making. "Jamie, I think maybe you should consider retirement; this bank is too complicated for you."
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