Jamie Dimon: 'If we did things right, we'd be growing at 3 percent'

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon ripped the current state of the U.S. economy, saying growth is being held back by a lack of action in Washington.

He has been outspoken on a number of issues lately, particularly regarding the gridlock in Congress and the need for less regulation and tax reform. He repeated those criticisms and added a few during an appearance Tuesday in New York at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor.

"There's something wrong," Dimon said. "All I've ever said is if we did things right, we'd be growing at 3 percent."

President Donald Trump has pledged that his pro-growth agenda of lower taxes, less regulation and more infrastructure spending would boost the economy out of its post-recession funk and push growth into the 3 percent realm. For his part, Dimon has not been vocal about the president himself, but has backed the agenda's basic tenets.

Dimon said the country needs to rethink its approach to regulation. Post-financial crisis rules implemented for the financial system have held back business activity and denied funding particularly to small-business start-ups.

In addition, he called for changes to immigration, education and the labor force.

"It's a long recovery, but it's half of what we would have had in a normal recovery," Dimon said. "Ask any small business, any of you in this audience, what have regulations done? They're crippling certain businesses."

Dimon himself has been involved in advocating change, though he was part of the business advisory panel for Trump that was abandoned in the wake of the racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In protest of the president's reaction, a number of CEOs left the panel. Dimon said he'll continue to be involved in other efforts, like the Business Roundtable that he chairs.

"We can't advocate all this stuff without thoughtful policy," he said. "If business doesn't get involved, we'll leave a huge vacuum."

Dimon also spoke out about bitcoin at a separate appearance Tuesday, telling a banking conference in New York that the cryptocurrency is a fraud and "someone is going to get killed."