J.P. Morgan Boss says USA should Stockpile Bullets Guns and Bombs

Global security has been a recent focus for the JP Morgan boss, with his letter to shareholders earlier this year warning the US would run out of missiles in seven days of a South China Sea war.

Reflecting on how the world could combat risk factors, he pointed to greater military investment.

“People talk about stockpiling things like crypto, I always say we should be stockpiling bullets, guns and bombs.

“The world’s a much more dangerous place, and I’d rather have safety than not.” 

Dimon did not denigrate President Donald Trump. Dimon was not complimentary of President Donald Trump. Dimon believed the U.S. Federal Reserve was doing a good job.  In the past, Dimon has skirted questions about JP Morgan Chase Bank’s stance on gun control. It appears he has tried to avoid the issue while pleasing and provoking both Second Amendment supporters and those who want a disarmed population.

In his letter to Shareholders in the annual report of 2024, many of the policies supported by Dimon will sound familiar as policies supported by President Trump. Dimon makes the case the USA must be militarily strong in order to survive and prosper. The Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans do not present the barriers to the use of military force which existed even 60 years ago. Long range bombers, intercontinental missiles, hypersonic missiles, cyber warfare and the more common use of orbital space has made our ocean barriers far less effective. Peace depends on a strong military. This is the common observation made through thousands of years of history.  From the letter:

As President Ronald Reagan once wisely said, “The only way to stay safe is peace through strength.” Having the best military is expensive, but it is not nearly as expensive as dealing with what would happen without it. We must maintain the world’s strongest military, without question.

This correspondent does not think Jaimie Dimon was talking about the approximately 530+ million firearms in private hands in the USA. Dimon does not mention them directly. Those arms significantly strengthen the United States Military. They make taking control of a hostile population more expensive and difficult, complicating actions by potential occupying forces. They aid in keeping a tradition of defense of country popular. They aid military recruitment. They assure the people of the United States the US government is more trustworthy than most other governments, as the ultimate authority of arms exists in the people themselves.

Chairman and CEO Dimon does not touch on the use of local and state militias to aid in domestic security. As seen in the Ukriane/Russia war, drone warfare can be an important part of homeland defense. This correspondent would like to see a national policy to integrate citizen drone operators into a system of state and local militias, which could make a militia system a more effective part of national defense. Citizen operators of complex computer systems are already a major part of our defense of cyberspace. Alternate communications systems, such as an alternate Internet backbone operating from orbit, (Starlink) could make the United States communications system more robust.