JPMorgan CEO tells shareholders a long economic boom is around the corner

(Image credit: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)

published 7 April 2021

Around this time last year, as the coronavirus pandemic began to take hold in the U.S., JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned that a "bad recession" was looming. Now, thanks to government intervention in the form of the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan, his outlook is much more hopeful.

Dimon sent an optimistic letter to shareholders on Wednesday, explaining that strong consumer savings, expanded vaccine distribution, and the Biden administration's $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal should combine to create a booming U.S. economy that could last until 2023, The Wall Street Journal reports. He described the scenario as a "Goldilocks moment," in which fast, sustained growth occurs alongside inflation and slowly rising interest rates.

Dimon believes there's a way to solidify even longer-term growth, as well. In the letter, he called for a new version of an American "Marshall Plan" — referring to the U.S. aid initiative to rebuild Western Europe after World War II. The strategy would include affordable child care, streamlined safety-net programs, and job training that would result in higher-wage jobs and heftier labor force participation. He noted the strategy will likely require increased taxes on the wealthy, but argued people would accept that if they "thought their taxes were going toward helping the poor and disadvantaged." Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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