It looks more and more as if Steve Cohen's returns at the hedge fund SAC have been generated not only through his trading brilliance but also through a culture of cutting corners. So why do major institutional investors still have any money with him?

The new Office of Financial Research was created to conduct independent analysis of systemic risks to the financial system, but so far it suffers from poor design and too many ties to big finance.

Obama sweeps into his second term with real advantages, including stronger appointees and more senators on his side. But the problems run so deep that he is unlikely to solve them.

While interest rates are low, margins on mortgages are high, giving banks a bonanza. Competition should lower rates, but the bank bailout fostered a cartel.

Tax code favors debt over equity, fattening bank profits and weakening the financial system.

Aided and abetted by Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission deregulates as if the financial crisis never happened.

In an effort to wind down the bank bailout program, the government is trying to sell its preferred stock holdings of the remaining smaller banks, but the potential losses from the auctions could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.