WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase & Co. chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon and five other corporate executives are having lunch with President Barack Obama Tuesday at the White House.
The White House says the meal — the fourth of its kind — is part of an ongoing dialogue with the business community. It comes against a backdrop of populist rhetoric from Obama, who has taken on Wall Street in a series of recent addresses and unveiled proposals designed to curb financial-sector practices the White House believes were at the root of the financial crisis.
The administration has downplayed speculation that its sharp tone with Wall Street could fray relations with a broader set of business interests.
In addition to Dimon, a White House official said Mort Zuckerman, chairman of Boston Properties Inc., Edward B. Rust Jr., chairman and CEO of State Farm Insurance Cos., Shelly Lazarus, chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, James T. Hackett, president and CEO of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., and Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., are joining Obama for lunch.
"The president wants to work closely with business to help grow jobs in this country," senior White House adviser David Axelrod said this month. "One condition for that is to ensure we don't have the kind of shenanigans that led to the collapse of the economy a year ago."
