I suppose there’s one silver lining in the collapse of world financial markets: if the US, England and the other big boys are hurting, you know these guys are in trouble. With winter coming, we finally had a little leverage.

Dimon’s swag is phenomenal

The deal, valued at $1.9B, was another bargain for Chase (consider that Bank One was only slightly larger than WaMu and in some trouble of its own when it was acquired by Chase for $58B in 2004) and all of a sudden, Chase is the 800lb gorilla in the room when the dust settles and we start to work our way out of this.

I was a Bank One employee with Dimon as its CEO when the Chase acquisition went down. His leadership skills were a huge part of the deal even happening in the first place as a provision of the purchase was for him to eventually move into the Harrison’s CEO spot.

He hit the ground running and the handover took place a half year early. But it wasn’t all roses. There was much gnashing of teeth over the cuts in perks such as car services, health club memberships and even extraneous newspaper subscriptions. He even had the audacity to move Chase’s IT HQ to Columbus, Ohio, where the same work could be done a lot cheaper. His constant focus on the bottom line and the fortress balance sheet is the reason Chase has been able to snatch these banks during a time when other banks are dropping like flies.

There’s obviously some risk in this deal — as there was with the Bear Stearns acquisition — but when the dust settles, Chase is well-positioned to be the 800lb gorilla in the banking room. And you have to wonder if despite the distortion field-weaving abilities of Steve Jobs, whether Dimon isn’t in fact, the best CEO in America.

A demonstrator holds up a sign behind U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (L) and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke (R) during a hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee September 23, 2008 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The Bush administration officials were testifying about a proposed $700 billion bailout that they hope will stabilize the faltering U.S. financial system. (Getty | Chip Somodevilla)

The next logical step being Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson there to approve of the candidate, of course.

This transition has produced some new status rules. In the first place, prestige has shifted from the producer of art to the aggregator and the appraiser. Inventors, artists and writers come and go, but buzz is forever. Maximum status goes to the Gladwellian heroes who occupy the convergence points of the Internet infosystem — Web sites like Pitchfork for music, Gizmodo for gadgets, Bookforum for ideas, etc.

These tastemakers surf the obscure niches of the culture market bringing back fashion-forward nuggets of coolness for their throngs of grateful disciples.

I feel dirty.

This video isn’t from the show, but Superconnected is one of my favorite BSS songs and this is a great version of it:

Everyone knows this lil’ shot caller is runnin things.

Part of a set of four.