Barclays, JPMorgan Chase have many woes JPMorgan Chase is being investigated in connection with alleged energy market manipulation that raised electricity prices in California and the Midwest, and involved "at least $73 million in improper payments," according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. If that kind of ruse sounds vaguely familiar, Goldman Sachs did something similar, selling unsuspecting clients subprime mortgage-backed securities chosen by a hedge fund manager who was shorting the same securities. Goldman Sachs was fined $550 million - a record - by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010, and told to "reform its business practices." [...] his bank has had to contribute to the $26 billion nationwide settlement of widespread abuses connected to the housing debacle, and is still attempting to unravel the multibillion trading loss involving the bank's "London whale." In January, Newsom hand carried a letter to the head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va., in which he noted that California leads the nation in patents granted, has a huge number of backlogged applications and possesses "a constant pipeline of human capital to staff a satellite office." If the president of the United States can support same-sex marriage and Anderson Cooper can openly declare his sexual orientation, then San Francisco's Esurance shouldn't get much blowback by giving auto insurance discounts to same-sex partners, the same as it does for married heterosexual couples. The online affiliate of Allstate Insurance announced this week that it is extending the privilege to committed same-sex partners in every state in which it does business. Offering additional savings to consumers regardless of where individual states stand on the issue of same-sex marriage is another measure of those commitments.