Most economists are conservative, but there is always a market for liberal ones. We’ve all seen the headlines in Democratic papers: 50 economists say Trump’s tariffs will cause a recession! Sort of like the 51 intelligence professionals who are experts on Russian disinformation.
So I found this report on J.P. Morgan refreshing:
Wall Street giant JPMorgan has set up a Donald Trump ‘war room’ as the 47th president announces a flurry of new policies upon returning to the White House, according to one of its top executives.
Mary Erdoes, the head of the bank’s asset and wealth management unit, told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an Alpine talking shop for the self-styled global elite, that the Jamie Dimon-led lender is bracing itself for major changes under Trump.
Oh oh. A global banker talking to the World Economic Forum in Davos. We’ve been down this road before. However:
Erdoes, a JPMorgan veteran who joined the firm in 1996, said she saw signs that the new administration is set to be a boon for American businesses.
She told the Davos panel that the new commander-in-chief is keen to create a “very pro-business environment” and that “animal spirits are alive” setting the US economy to “go mode” at present.
The 57-year-old also praised Trump for his decision to order all US government workers back to the office in a sweeping crackdown on the permissive and cushy coronavirus perks of the Biden administration.
“Thank God the U.S. government has done it, and hopefully that’ll keep us ahead of other governments in the world so we can continue to compete.”
America first! A novel idea in Davos.
Seen as a possible successor to current CEO Dimon, Erdoes slammed the previous administration for strangling the financial industry with red tape.
The Harvard Business School alum expressed hope that Trump would pare back some of the rules.
“If you look at the last administration and the number of new, significant regulations, it was eight times the number of significant new regulations versus the prior Trump administration,” she said.
“With that comes multiple millions of man-hours of paperwork. Work that clogs up the system and stops the economy from continuing to have that very healthy flywheel. So we’re really looking forward to that,” Erdoes added. “Hopefully that will keep us ahead of other governments in the world so we can continue to compete.”
In the brave new world of free speech, maybe we will be seeing a lot more economists and business people saying what they really think.
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