Commentary
The weekend brought us the news that JPMorgan bought the failing First Republic bank, with numbers that are truly mind-boggling and further shore up JPMorgan’s megabank status. For many readers, this came across as fancy high finance and nothing much to concern us, especially since the numbers are essentially incomprehensible to the regular person.
So long as the banking system as a whole remains stable, readers think, then all is well. And that is exactly the messaging that the Biden administration dished out. Nothing to see here. Everyone just move on because everything is fine.
In fact, this was not a normal bank merger. This was a bailout in the guise of a merger, one that massively benefits a well-heeled private interest while the public bears the cost….