Crisis Won’t End Until Balance Sheets Get Real: Jonathan Weil Investors are feeling better about financial companies’ balance sheets than they were a few months ago. That’s not to say they have a lot of confidence in them.

Capital One’s $549 Million Man Buys Back Freedom: Jonathan Weil What’s in Capital One Financial Corp.’s wallet? About $3.6 billion less than what was in there two weeks ago, now that the credit-card lender has returned its taxpayer bailout cash. This is one decision the bank and its regulators could end up regretting.

Hedge Fund Instant IPO Tests the New Complacency: Jonathan Weil The near-collapse of the financial system was supposed to have reminded the world about the hazards of chasing short-term gains at the expense of long-term stability. Another lesson we keep relearning is that investors’ memories are short.

Banks Trade TARP for Bonuses, Debauchery, Jets: Jonathan Weil Lock up the booze, and hide your wallet. America’s most powerful, too-big-to-fail banks are turning in their TARP money. And you know what that means: It’s party time again on Wall Street.

Free Money Beckons at Bank of the Living Dead: Jonathan Weil If the saga of Corus Bankshares Inc. doesn’t get you mad about America’s out-of-control zombie banks and their slow-footed regulators, probably nothing will.

Morgan Stanley Bullying Is Least of SEC’s Woes: Jonathan Weil If the Securities and Exchange Commission had its druthers, we still might have no idea that an internal probe into the securities trades by two of its attorneys had led to a criminal investigation. That makes the budding scandal only worse, just when the SEC can’t afford many more embarrassments.

Freebasing in Caymans Would Be a Banker’s Dream: Jonathan Weil The race to the bottom is on for the two boards that set most of the world’s accounting standards. This can mean just one thing. It’s time they got competition.

Goldman Pays Greenmail to Make Snoops Go Away: Jonathan Weil Thanks to the commonwealth of Massachusetts, crusading attorneys general throughout the land now have a road map for extracting multimillion-dollar checks from Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc.: Don’t accuse them of anything at all.

Lehman Bosses Walk, While Small Fry Walk Plank: Jonathan Weil The nation’s top securities cop once again has shown it knows how to go after little fish. There is still no sign it’s capable of bagging any powerful sharks.

Bank of America Owners Declare War on Taxpayers: Jonathan Weil The votes are in at Bank of America Corp. And the message to America is unmistakable: It’s them versus us.