Wells Fargo Needs TARP Money More Than It Admits: Jonathan Weil When it comes to giving the U.S. taxpayers their money back, it’s time for Wells Fargo & Co. to put up or shut up.

Blankfein Invokes God and Man at Goldman Sachs: Jonathan Weil What’s the difference between Lloyd Blankfein and the Blues Brothers of 1980 cinema fame? Elwood, the felonious musician played by Dan Aykroyd, meant it when he said he and his brother Jake were on a mission from God. Blankfein wants to take his own similar words back.

Why the Goldman Sachs-AIG Story Won’t Go Away: Jonathan Weil How did so much taxpayer money end up in the coffers of American International Group Inc.’s too- big-to-fail customers? The more we find out, the more it becomes obvious we still don’t know the half of it.

Goldman Sachs Is Too Big to Tell It Straight: Jonathan Weil Repeat after me: Goldman Sachs is not too big to fail. Goldman Sachs is not too big to fail. Goldman Sachs is not too big to fail.

Mark-to-Make-Believe Turns Junk Loans to Gold: Jonathan Weil Here’s the best tip I ever got on how to read a company’s financial statements: Read the footnotes first, because that’s usually where the bodies are buried.

Buffett Selling Means You Shouldn’t Be Buying: Jonathan Weil It’s not often that Warren Buffett gives the investing public a reason to believe he’s not on their side.

Banks Have Us Flying Blind on Depth of Losses: Jonathan Weil There was a stunning omission from the government’s latest list of “problem” banks, which ran to 416 lenders, a 15-year high, as of June 30. One outfit not on the list was Georgian Bank, the second-largest Atlanta-based bank, which supposedly had plenty of capital.

FDIC Is Broke, Taxpayers at Risk, Bair Muses: Jonathan Weil The FDIC’s insurance fund is going broke, and Sheila Bair is wondering aloud about how to replenish it. This means one thing for taxpayers: Watch your wallets.

GE’s Fraud Case Could Use the Judge Gone Wild: Jonathan Weil Finally a judge has dared say no to the once-venerable Securities and Exchange Commission and one of its cozy corporate settlements.

Too-Big Banks Can Take Comfort in Obama’s Math: Jonathan Weil President Barack Obama did Americans a great service yesterday. He boiled down what’s wrong with his administration’s approach to the financial crisis into a single, symbolic statistic.