House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Sunday dismissed financial regulations that could have stemmed $3 billion or more in losses on derivatives by JPMorgan Chase & Co. because the company "should be help accountable by the market."
"There’s no law against stupidity, no law against stupid trades," Boehner told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
"And as long as the positives, money wasn’t at risk, and as long as there’s no risk of a taxpayer bailout– they should be held accountable by the market and their shareholders -- and they are," the Speaker insisted.
Boehner also shrugged off the notion that implementation of the Dodd-Frank bank reform law could have prevented the losses.
"I don’t believe there’s anything in Dodd-Frank that would’ve prevented this activity at JPMorgan," he explained.
Boehner's comments echo presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's sentiment that the bank's losses are "the way America works."
“I would not rush to pass new legislation or new regulation,” Romney said during a Wednesday interview with Hot Air blogger Ed Morrissey. “This is, in the normal course of business, a large loss but certainly not one which is crippling or threatening to the institution.”
“This was not a loss to the taxpayers of America; this was a loss to shareholders and owners of JPMorgan and that’s the way America works,” the former Bain Capital executive explained. “The $2 billion JPMorgan lost, someone else gained.”
(h/t: Talking Points Memo)
