BankThink

When it comes to financing the average middle-class American, our government-backed mortgage entities will accept nothing but the most pristine standards. Except when it comes to the millions of home loans for which the feds want lenders to toss standards out the window.

Receiving Wide Coverage ... $11 Billion: That's how much JPMorgan Chase may have to pay to settle the feds' mortgage-backed securities probe, anonymice tell the papers. Attorney General Eric Holder rejected the bank's offer to pay $3 billion, according to some accounts. JPMorgan "is resisting any sweeping admission of guilt, which could jeopardize its defense against private litigation on similar issues," says the FT. Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Washington Post …

For each step toward Wall Street reform, the government has taken at least a half-step back. And there are signs another Gilded Age may be upon us.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

JPMorgan's Settlement Tab Keeps Rising: As more leaks drip out from the JPMorgan Chase settlement talks rumor mill, JPM's price tag keeps rising. JPM had been thought to be readying to pay $1 billion, but the Wall Street Journal reports JPM has offered "about $3 billion" though DOJ officials deem that figure as "billions of dollars too low" and that the final amount "could be larger." The New York Times says JPM...

Perhaps not surprisingly, a federal government which lives beyond its means tragically encouraged American families to do the same.