I’m at the airport. Today is another travel day and I’ll be back to regular posting tomorrow.
However, I did want to add some personal introspection this morning.
I am returning home from a medical conference. Specifically, from a conference put on by a foundation that is supporting research, clinical trials and patients for what is known as an ultra-rare cancer.
This one is called a Chordoma. There are roughly 300 cases per year in the United States - one in a million.
That includes me.
The good news is I had treatment - surgery, no chemo or radiation - and I am clean and cancer free and back doing everything I did before, albeit also somewhat spine-free (chordomas always form somewhere along the spine; mine was on my lower spine - the sacrum - which is probably the “best” place if one is lucky enough to be gifted with one.)
Further good news is that incredible advances are being made in treating chordomas, as well as other ultra-rare cancers. The conference was intense and sad and inspiring.
What struck me (of course) was that a significant part of the conference was devoted to navigating this disease, including how to handle the huge cost of treatment.
As I sat in my hotel room last night, I came across another article about Jamie Dimon and his “concern” for the little people: JPMorgan CEO sends strong warning to all Americans:
The JPMorgan Chase chief executive has been telling anyone who will listen that the American Dream is slipping out of reach for millions of families. Six months after he first raised the alarm, his bank has put a specific, dollar-quantified reason behind the warning, and it centers on a demographic shift most people have not thought much about until now.
…
“The American Dream is alive, but it’s slipping out of reach for too many people, and for future generations,” he said, adding that the trend was slowing economic growth and hurting communities, Fortune reported.
…
Dimon’s framing echoed concerns he has raised for years about opportunity in America not being shared equally. This theme has run through several of his public warnings this year about how artificial intelligence could disrupt employment and force JPMorgan to retrain workers as automation changes the workforce.
I’ve written about this before. However, as I sat through three days of tragic stories, incredible courage, exciting research on potential breakthroughs and scientists talking about cuts to federal grants, I was struck by the stunning lack of self-reflection by people like Dimon.
Sure, JP Morgan is allocating millions to programs to support small businesses. The article discusses how Dimon wants to support small business succession plans.
Admirable.
But not one word - seemingly no recognition - of the outsized compensation that he and his fellow C-Suite executives extract from their companies to the direct detriment of workers in their companies and the indirect but very real detriment of the non-Epstein Class.
No mention of the upward distribution and concentration of wealth in an elite few due to specific tax and other economic and social policies, directly harming the non-Epstein Class.
No mention of monopolistic and oligopolistic industries where concentration effectively limits competition, resulting in higher prices that directly harm the non-Epstein Class.
No recognition of the existence of centi-billionaires who have more wealth than they can spend in thousands of lifetimes, siphoning societal resources to the direct harm of the non-Epstein Class.
In many respects, it is a zero-sum game, and as the venerable capitalist Wareen Buffett reminded us at one time, "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."
Patients with rare diseases like chordomas have minimal “choice” when it comes to treatment. They don’t have the luxury of shopping around for the best price when there are - at best - extremely limited treatment modalities or effective drugs to help them literally stay alive.
I spoke to one survivor who simply told me (paraphrased because I’m not sure I’m remembering the quote exactly), “Whatever treatment I find at whatever cost, I’ll do it. I’ll find a way. Because the alternative means I die.”
I am truly one of the lucky ones and in a weird way I’m better off for it (although I’ll need to be monitored for the rest of my life). I would never wish what I had one anyone, including Jamie Dimon). But he is part of the problem, not the solution.
Reminder: JP Morgan has pleaded guilty to multiple felonies under Dimon’s “leadership”. In any truly functioning society that values responsibility and accountability, he would have been out of a job a long time ago.
Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
