When Washington is on the brink, who has the clout to persuade legislators to keep government open? The obvious answer is the US president. A better one is Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase. With last week’s vote in doubt, Mr Dimon helped to arm-twist Congress to pass a bill to keep the Federal government running for most of next year. What a splendid public service, I hear you say. In fact, his motive was more specific. The bill included an unrelated item allowing banks to resume derivatives trading from their taxpayer-insured arms. That ban is now history. Who other than a Wall Street titan could demand — and receive — such a service?
在華盛頓瀕臨懸崖邊緣之際，能夠說服議員們不讓美國政府關門的人是誰？對於這個問題，顯而易見的答案是美國總統。更好的答案則是摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)執行長傑米•戴蒙(Jamie Dimon)。在上週的投票結果岌岌可危之際，戴蒙幫助對國會加大壓力，迫使國會通過了能讓聯邦政府在明年大半年保持運轉的議案。讀者可能會感慨：這是多麼出色的公共服務啊。不過，事實上他的動機更具體一些。該法案中包括了一個無關條款，允許銀行在得到納稅人擔保的分支機構重啓衍生品交易。如今，這項禁令已成歷史。除了華爾街巨擘，還有什麼人可以要求——並得到——這樣的「服務」？