Is JP Morgan the New Goldman Sachs?

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I remember the days not too long ago when Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) was labeled the greediest firm on Wall Street. People always blamed Goldman for their shady profiting schemes and what have you but since the recession hit, they have gotten back to basics and it has been awhile since we have heard anything from them.

However, in the other corner, you have JP Morgan. JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) has been taking heat lately over some shady dealings. First they are blamed for harboring the missing MF Global funds but now we just found out that they are profiting millions of dollars on…poor people. That’s right! They are making a boat load on Americans using food stamps.

JP Morgan is the largest food stamp processor in the United States and they offer what is essentially a debt card for food stamps. Every time someone uses this food stamp debt card, JP Morgan gets a cut of the profits. In the states of Indiana alone, the firm says they are raking in $186,000 a month on people using their food stamp service. It should be noted that the rise in food prices is also a rise in profits for JP Morgan.

On top of that, JP Morgan is outsourcing the customer service line for the food stamps card to India where operators are paid a max of $3.50. On top of profiting from poverty in America, they can’t even make jobs with their customer service department. Instead they send the jobs over to India.

The ironically sad part is that in 2008, JP Morgan got a $25 billion bailout of tax payer money so that they would stay afloat. Now they are profiting on the same people that helped them stay in business. It is unfortunate that in our society that we have a lot of greed like this.

I am in no way a supporter of the Occupy Wall St movement but I think it is ironic how Goldman Sachs has been a main target of OWS protestors when it’s really JP Morgan who is the new and improved Goldman. Wall Street is Wall Street, bottom line. Once things start to go privatized this is what happens. Is it bad? It depends on your political opinion I guess. Is it greedy? You bet it is but its part of the game. I am more upset that they are outsourcing jobs to India when we have 14 million Americans standing by looking for a job that are more than capable of answering a phone and following a prompt. Its official JP Morgan is beginning to take on the old Goldman persona.

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