The widening gap between high-income and middle- to low-income Americans is "a huge problem," JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said during a Nov. 10 interview with CBS' "60 Minutes."
Mr. Dimon noted that middle-class incomes have been flat for more than a decade, and more than 40 percent of Americans make $15 or less an hour.
When asked about compensation for executives — which journalist Lesley Stahl said grew 940 percent in the last 40 years compared to 12 percent for middle-class Americans — Mr. Dimon blamed a lagging economy.
When Ms. Stahl pressed him about his own pay, which was $31 million in 2018, Mr. Dimon said the board sets his pay, and any move to deny that pay wouldn't fix the problem. Rather, using the tax system could solve the problem, he said.
"I would not have cut the tax on the rich. I would've extended the Earned Income Tax Credit instead — which is like a negative income tax credit for lower-paid people. We probably should change the minimum wage, which I don't think has been changed for like 10 or 15 years. There are solutions to these problems. The problems are real. It does not mean Free Enterprise is bad."
Read the transcript here. Watch the full interview here.
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