SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - The United States should stockpile guns, ammunition and drones instead of bitcoin, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Friday at the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum in California.
"We shouldn't be stockpiling bitcoins," Dimon said when asked about how industrial policy is entwined with national security policies during a panel. "We should stockpiling guns, bullets, tanks, planes, drones, you know, rare earths. We know we need to do it. It's not a mystery."
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that operates outside of banking or government authority. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March establishing a Bitcoin reserve, which he described as "a virtual Fort Knox for digital gold."
"We should be stockpiling bullets," he continued. "Like, you know, the military guys tell you that, you know, if there's a war in the South China Sea, we have missiles for seven days. Okay, come on. I mean, we can't say that with a straight face and think that's okay. So we know what to do. We just got to now go about doing it. Get the people together, roll up our sleeves, you know, have the debates."
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Dimon joined a fireside chat during the Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, at the Reagan Presidential Library Friday for a sweeping discussion on the economy and how the world's "tectonic plates are shifting" in geopolitics in the form of wars, proxy terrorists and the potential proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Dimon underscored during his address that he does not view China as America's top adversary, and instead pointed his attention to the "enemy within" that could lead to the U.S.' status as the world's leader crater.
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"I'm not as worried about China," Dimon said. "China is a potential adversary. They're doing a lot of things well, they have a lot of problems. But what I really worry about is us. Can we get our own act together, our own values, our own capability, our own management?"
"I always get asked this question: Are we going to be the reserve currency?" he said. "No. You know, if we are not the preeminent military and the preeminent economy in 40 years, we will not be the reserve currency. That's a fact. Just read history."
He referred to the U.S. government as a "Leviathan" that is too weak to carry out policies, while simultaneously imposing "things on the American public that they're getting sick of."
Dimon argued that instead, the U.S. needs to celebrate its long-held values.
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"Celebrate our virtues: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise, equal opportunity, family, God, country," he said. "You know, and you can acknowledge the flaws that we have, which are extraordinary - what we did the Black population for years. Don't denigrate the great things of this country, because those are two different things."
"We don't talk that much to each other - deal with our policies - this is the enemy within," he continued. "We've got to fix our permitting our regulations our immigration our taxation, which I, I think they're on their way. We have to fix our inner city schools, our health care system."
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The Reagan National Economic forum kicked off Friday, and includes panels featuring Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, lawmakers such as Sens. Mike Rounds and Bill Cassidy, and leaders from the private sector, such as the CEO of Booz Allen Hamilton, Horacio Rozanski. The bipartisan event works to promote "President Reagan's enduring belief in the power of the free market and individual opportunity to drive national prosperity," according to forum organizers.
