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Felix Salmon has a pretty good take on JPMorgan’s $13 billion settlement with the government. Roughly speaking, $10 billion of it is for liabilities that JPM knew it was inheriting when it purchased Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns—liabilities that were fully incorporated into the original purchase price. The remaining $3 billion covers fines for actions taken directly under Jamie Dimon’s watch. There’s no SEC overreach here, and there are no unfair penalties for actions taken by companies that the government encouraged JPM to buy. More here.
