Bondholders Extract Revenge on Fee-Hungry Bankers: David Reilly Companies in dire straits often roll the dice in a bid to stave off bankruptcy. The problem is that last-ditch efforts to raise new funds or restructure often come at the expense of bondholders.

Making Wall Street Pay Seems Nice Until We Try It: David Reilly The government wants financial companies, not taxpayers, to pay the tab for too-big-to-fail firms that run into trouble. As good as that sounds, it may not work.

Lehman Ghost Stalks Bank of America Equity Dream: David Reilly Time and again during the crisis, executives at hard-hit financial firms balked when they had a chance to raise fresh equity. They worried too much about selling stock at low prices and diluting existing holders.

Dollar’s Doom Puts a Face on New $1 Million Bill: David Reilly Forty years ago, the U.S. government said the $100 bill would be the highest-denomination note. With the Federal Reserve now trying to print its way out of the financial crisis, it may be time to revisit that decision.

Blankfein Puts Mouth Where Goldman’s Profit Is: David Reilly Every quarter, the same question bedevils Wall Street: What’s in the secret sauce that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. uses to make so much money?

Bank Earnings Put Delay-and-Pray Tactic to Test: David Reilly Delay-and-pray. For much of this year that was the strategy for banks when it came to the reserves they set aside to cover souring loans. Now, third- quarter earnings might show whether this gambit is paying off.

Death-Spiral Capital Relieves Bernanke’s Dilemma: David Reilly The simplest solutions continue to escape those trying to fix our broken financial system.

John Mack Touts Watchdog Only Banks Will Love: David Reilly Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John Mack’s call for a global “uber-regulator” to oversee the international financial system represents a dream come true for bankers and a nightmare for everyone else.

Jamie Dimon Misses Own Too-Big-to-Fail Threat: David Reilly It was surprising to hear JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon say, “It would be a very bad long-term policy error to have banks that are too big to fail.”

Bank Bailout Reject Embraced by Declawed Tiger: David Reilly Ireland is providing a case study for what might have been if former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had gone ahead with a plan to buy banks’ hard-hit assets.