Dimon’s letter a real gem

JPMORGAN Chief Executive Jamie Dimon issued his state-ofthe-state shareholder letter last Tuesday, but unfortunately, it was overshadowed by Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeff Lacker’s resignation over leaking information.

It’s a shame, because Dimon really hit on some key issues concerning what is right and wrong with America.

The CEO of the nation’s largest bank, while stressing how great America is, pointed a finger at Washington’s ineptness over the past eight years.

Without naming names, Dimon pointed to problems with education, where we’ve seen America fall from third in the world to atrocious levels.

“We should be ringing the national alarm bell that inner-city schools are failing our children,” Dimon wrote. “We are creating generations of citizens who will never have a chance in this land of dreams and opportunity. Unfortunately, it’s self-perpetuating, and we all pay the price.”

About the job market, Dimon said, “The labor force participation is too low.” He highlights the key facts, discounting the phony excuses for the lowest labor force participation rate on record in recent years. “Labor force participation in the United States has gone from 66 percent to 63 percent between 2008 and today.”

He explained correctly that some of this is due to the aging of our nation’s population — but then he hits it out of the park, saying, “If you examine the data more closely and focus just on labor force participation for one key segment, i.e., men ages 25-54, you’ll see that we have a serious problem.”

Dimon noted that those men have seen their participation rate fall to 88 percent from 96 percent in 1968. And then added this fact: “This is way below labor force participation in almost every other developed nation.”

Those who love business, economics and common sense should read his 45-page script. If nothing else, you’ll feel better knowing that someone else gets what we are going through.