U.S. — JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defended capitalism and outlined proposals to address housing affordability and economic growth at the launch of the bank's American Dream initiative, a program designed to funnel tens of billions of dollars into local communities to support small businesses, affordable housing and job growth.

Dimon said capitalism has helped lift billions out of poverty and described the United States as a "prosperous nation." He said Americans are better off than they were in the past but acknowledged that the bottom third of income earners have seen less progress. "Their incomes didn't really go up very much. They struggle more," he said.

A recent poll found that 62% of Americans think opportunities are increasing for wealthy people, compared with 16% who said the same for the middle class.

He said affordability challenges are partly due to "bad policy" that has failed to ignite economic growth, noting that U.S. economic growth has averaged around 2% over the last two decades. "Had it been 3%, we [would have had] $20,000 per person more GDP. That would've paid for an awful lot," he said. "Growth is what creates everything — capital formation, capital, R&D, investment, productivity."

On housing, he said he supports creating more affordable housing and boosting investment in local school districts. "The reason we're not building more affordable housing is because of local zoning requirements and mortgage origination — mortgage rules that made it so expensive to get a mortgage. We could reduce the cost of that mortgage," he said. A report released last year by RAND found that the cost of building multifamily housing is much higher in states like California due to higher development fees and longer permitting processes.

President Donald Trump has called for a ban on institutional investors' ability to buy single-family homes. Dimon addressed the proposal, saying, "I hate to tell you this, it's basically irrelevant." He added, "Only 1% of the homes are owned by what you would call large companies," and said, "I don't think it's gonna change any calculus."

He also addressed cryptocurrency, saying, "I think for the most part, it's more like gambling." He added, "But there are areas where you could say, 'No, it's investing.'"

Gas prices on Tuesday hit $4 per gallon for the first time since 2022. He called the higher prices "very unfortunate" and acknowledged they will cause hardship for many Americans. "The gas prices are gonna hurt some folks," he said. "The sooner it gets properly resolved, the better."