Amidst all the negative reports and chatter surrounding the economy, one of the titans of U.S. finance is telling a different story. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told the Wall Street Journal that the economy is doing just fine. “It’s good times,” Dimon told the WSJ in a live sit-down interview. “At this moment in time…the economy is in good standing.” Dimon cited strong economic growth, corporate profits, and low unemployment among the factors behind his rosy outlook, while he did acknowledge stubborn and “sticky” inflation and concerns about geopolitical tensions and government debt.
Dimon’s comments come on the heels of a reported silent boom in business and manufacturing activity. EJ Antoni, economist at the Heritage Foundation, mostly agrees with Dimon’s assessment…with the exception of that pesky inflation problem. “The economy is really firing on most other cylinders,” says Antoni. “The boom we have seen from AI alone and the productivity and wage gains there are really tremendous.”
“But at the end of the day, consumers are hurting right now because of those high energy prices.”
As long as those energy prices persist, Antoni predicts we will continue to see a gap between the overall economy and the public’s economic mood. “The problem is energy prices exploded (earlier this year), and now your paycheck buys less than it did back in February,” he tells KTRH. “It still buys more than it did when Trump took office for the second time, but now for more than a half a year it’s been going in the wrong direction.”
“People are really upset about that, and rightfully so.”
Antoni argues the only thing that will bring energy prices down is ending the wars in Iran and Ukraine. “Get a peace deal with Iran and get the heck out of there, then force Ukraine to make a peace deal as well, and end that conflict too,” he says. “Removing that cause will reverse the effect…in other words it will get energy prices back down, and not only will people feel better about the economy, but the economy will really be firing on all cylinders.”