Jamie Dimon’s sinister PR ploy: What’s really behind JPMorgan’s Detroit investment

[MinM]

Beware of big banks bearing gifts. That note should be attached to JPMorgan Chase’s much-hyped planned investment of $100 million in the City of Detroit. The move is mostly an effort to boost the embattled bank’s public image, in a part of the country where they have deep roots. But corporate philanthropy like this also hopes for a return on investment – often in the form of the privatization of public infrastructure, which JPMorgan Chase certainly has in its sights.

The $100 million investment in Detroit, spread over a five-year period, comes out to about .1 percent of JPMorgan Chase’s quarterly profits. But it represents one of the more generous corporate commitments to the city, as it attempts to emerge from the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy. The money, split between low-interest loans and grants, will go toward funding community development projects, documenting and eliminating urban blight, providing money for mortgages, training prospective workers and supporting small businesses.

This makes sense for Chase’s bottom line simply because they have a number of branches in Detroit, and over 1 million consumer customers in the region, a legacy going back to the 1930s. A revitalized Detroit helps Chase attract more business, so the bank can do well by doing good. In addition, for a bank that has mostly been in the news of late for paying fines for violating the law, a little shine to their corporate image cannot hurt. “When you’re in a town, you try to be a great citizen there,” CEO Jamie Dimon told the Detroit Free Press.

And if this were only about good corporate citizenship, there would be nothing to worry about. But there’s something far more sinister here. Buried within the commitments is $5.5 million for “strategic initiatives” that includes investing in the M-1 streetcar project, and “bringing the Global Cities Initiative to Detroit.” What is the Global Cities Initiative? Simply put, it’s a giant public relations project meant to encourage the privatization of public resources in cities like Detroit...

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/21/jamie_dimons_sinister_pr_ploy_what%E2%80%99s_really_behind_jpmorgans_detroit_investment/

[LongTomH]

1. The Shock Doctrine in action!

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine

Privatize public resources and cut all assistance to middle class and poor people. The tactics have been the same, in the former Soviet Union and the US.

[blkmusclmachine]

2. What would Nazis in the 21st Century do?!?!

[Leme]

3. did a litttle searching..not much info but

seems like 28 cities including: Chicago, Tallahassee, Denver, Portland, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, San Antonio.
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Sao Paulo Brazil ( possibly) and Mexico also.
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the Brookings Institution does "support" for the Global Cities Initiative.