JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says San Francisco in ‘far worse shape’ than NYC

JPMorgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon declared that “San Francisco is in far worse shape than New York” as he blasted major US cities for failing to “do a good job” when it comes to safety and housing shortages.

“I think every city, like every country, should be thinking about what is it that makes an attractive city, you know, its parks, its art, but it’s definitely safety,” Dimon added to Fox.

“Any city who doesn’t do a good job, it will lose its population,” Dimon also stressed, applauding companies that call San Francisco home while speaking from JPMorgan’s 2nd Annual Healthcare Conference, taking place in San Francisco from Jan. 8 to Jan. 11.

“They [companies] need housing,” Dimon said, arguing that if employers can’t get permits to build affordable housing, they can’t bring in high-paid employees, according to Fox.

Google, for example, is set to build a 15,000-house residential campus surrounding its San Francisco headquarters, which is projected to boast four master-planned Bay area districts worth a combined $15 billion across Sunnyvale, San Jose and Mountain View.

However, the tech behemoth hit a road bump late last year when its developer, Ledlease, backed out of its contract, citing “current market conditions,” although it wasn’t set to break ground on the development until 2026.

It’s not just San Francisco-based companies facing housing issues: Bay Area residents have been facing a housing shortage in recent months, which has seen residents coughing up $700 per month for 4-feet high by 3.5-feet wide “pod” spaces to sleep in because they can’t afford apartments.

The pods are less than half the size of an RV at Candlestick Point, which the city opened in January 2022 for the homeless. The “safe parking site” called Bayview Triage Center has 30 RVs, each of which cost San Francisco $12,000 per month, though residents live there rent-free with 24/7 security.

Meanwhile, New York City has “to worry about fiscal” as it worries about a mass exodus on Wall Street, Dimon told Fox.

“You can’t have a fiscal deficit that high where you think that constantly taxing individuals and companies more and more, where, you know, the bulk of the tax is paid by a handful of people, it’s driving people out,” he told the outlet.

Since the end of 2019, roughly 160 Wall Street firms have moved their headquarters out of the Big Apple — most of them dodging stiff taxes by setting up shop in havens like Dallas and Miami — bringing with them a staggering $1 trillion in assets, according to data from 17,000 companies compiled by Bloomberg.

Dimon posed a solution: “Every department should send you a report. I think the press should be more demanding. How much money do we give to this department? What do they say they’re going to do? What did they do?” he told Fox.

In New York — where the cost of living is already 30% higher than the national average, according to apartment listing service RentCafe — the corporate income tax rate is a hefty 6.5% to 7.25%.

On average, the state’s combined state and local tax rate comes in at a blistering 8.52%

For reference, corporations that do business in tax-friendly Florida are subject to 5.5% income tax, while LLCs, sole proprietorships and S corporations operating out the Sunshine State are exempt from paying state income tax.

Also speaking to Fox from JPMorgan’s conference, Dimon warned that a so-called “Goldilocks” economy — with growth that’s not too hot or too cold — may not save the US from a recession as the government faces a “huge deficit.”

“I’m a little skeptical on this Goldilocks scenario. I still think the chances of it not being a soft landing are higher than other people,” Dimon said.

He pointed to a slew of issues that could disrupt the economy, including “the extra money that [consumers] got during COVID, trillions of dollars, that’s kind of running out. It’s been pushed out for a whole bunch of reasons but it runs out this year.”

“The government [also] has a huge deficit which will affect the markets,” the 67-year-old boss of the world’s largest bank also warned.”

The country’s mounting debt recently surpassed a record-high of $34.01 trillion.