I'm not necessarily pro-big banks, but JP Morgan and GS were two of the banks LEAST in need of a bailout. GS was short MBS at the time, so your description is .
Those MBS shorts that Goldman Sachs held were with counterparties who couldn't have paid up had they not been bailed out. The same goes for JPM and their monstrous derivatives book, which would have lost enough value to make them insolvent many times over in the absence of a bailout.
The idea that these banks were perfectly healthy is a lie propagated by bailout apologists.
The idea that these banks were perfectly healthy is a lie propagated by bailout apologists.