Today's New York Times story on the Goldman Sachs-SEC settlement quotes Senator Carl Levin of Michigan as saying, "A key factor in the settlement is that Goldman acknowledges wrongdoing." From the SEC's own press release on the settlement: "Goldman agreed to settle the SEC's charges without admitting or denying the allegations."
Goldman did acknowledge it had made "a mistake" that it "regrets," but there are plenty of regrettable mistakes (that third hot dog?) that don't rise to the level of "wrongdoing."
