Papers > By author > Sullivan Nathaniel

Over the past decade, from the financial crisis of 2008 until now, an unprecedented bailout of the American big banks has flushed trillions of dollars into the world financial system. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, became a billionaire because of it. While immensely enriching to a select few, it also created a crisis of the spirit. The bailout socialized risk yet kept profit private. But if you are a man like Jamie Dimon, who prides himself on the smarts and resilience that got him to the top in the first place, what can you think about yourself in the "too big to fail" era? What does success even look like?

While The Nation Went Bankrupt is a sequel to the financial crisis saga Before The Nation Went Bankrupt, which took place over a seminal weekend at the Federal Reserve in the fall of 2008. The story was told through the fictional love letters of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. While The Nation Went Bankrupt covers 2008-2016, an era where the power of financial capitalism mutated and took control of nearly every aspect of society. The sequel is again told through Dimon's love letters; he writes to his lovers and tries to make metaphors for a capitalism he no longer recognizes and increasingly feels alienated from. In 2008, he compared the new economy to a garden, and men of finance to cultivators of extravagant fantasies. Without knowing it, Dimon has spent the decade building a labyrinth where “all men will lose their way”.

While The Nation Went Bankrupt is a multimedia lecture performance that uses the fictional love letters of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to tell the story of how neoliberal ideas have crept into all areas of life. The narrative takes place over the decade following the financial crisis of 2008. In that time, Neoliberalism has weathered shocks, billion dollar loses, flash crashes, populist movements and attempts at regulation. Its fundamental emptiness gives it power to morph easily, but leads men like Jamie Dimon into spiritual crisis.