The CEO of the world’s largest bank says the US is now facing a slew of risks that could push the global economy into rough waters.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says the US economy is addicted to debt, and central bank spending has become like heroin to American households, the Telegraph reports
Dimon believes the economy is essentially a “dangerous cocktail” of risks, and an “explosive” economic event may be on the horizon.
The CEO says the trillions of dollars worth of free money handed out during the pandemic and the additional trillions printed by the US government will prove to be problematic for the economy, adding that the “money is like heroin.”
And of course when you put $5 trillion in the hands of consumers … think of those as drugs in the system …Well, of course you’d feel pretty good. Of course stock markets are high and of course companies are earning more money.”
While some investors are expecting a cool-off of inflation and an easing of rates, Dimon warns that “inflationary forces” may prove to be stickier than originally thought, leading to more problems.
“We’re on this sugar high and I’m not saying this ends in a depression [but] I think there’s more inflationary forces out there…
There’s a higher chance that rates go higher, inflation doesn’t go away and all these things cause more problems of some sort.”
When the global economy is inevitably forced to return to an environment where it isn’t being propped up by government spending and easier monetary conditions, Dimon says that companies could see “big drops in profit.”
Along with the economic uncertainty facing the US, Dimon says current geopolitical tension may act as the spark that ignites something much bigger in markets. While he doesn’t want to be pessimistic, Dimon says he’s leaning toward the expectation that things get worse in the Middle East.
“You can’t sit here and say that something bad may not happen. I’m not trying to scare people, I’m more in the category that something could go wrong.”
