J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is in the news today because CEO Jamie Dimon issued a scathing letter to shareholders that effectively is attacking the current political climate in Washington D.C.  If you read through this letter without prejudice (if possible) and if you overlook the word “demonized” used once and a couple of other points, this letter raises some good points.

Dimon was in a far different
boat than CEOs running other troubled banks.  J.P. Morgan often acted at the request of the government, sometimes not in its best interests.  Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) do deserve most of the blame here.  It is arguable that even Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) acted often at the request of Uncle Sam, yet the bonus issues prevailed there and Ken Lewis was effectively destroyed.

The letter to shareholders actually spells out many of the issues and the solutions.  It does include some criticism — rightfully so.  Jamie Dimon is not the culprit here.  He is perhaps the biggest solution.  He did not run the risk management into the dirt like AIG.  He did not run Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns out of existence, although he did buy Bear Stearns “at the request of the government.”  Every banker statement out there and every behind the scenes report covering this effectively exonerated Dimon of looking for the government handout or bailout.  Many institutions did fail and many did not fail that should been allowed to fail.  Dimon wants the notion of ‘too big to fail’ removed from the economic equation, even if that means J.P. Morgan Chase.