Briac

* A brief history of insider trading and private equity * Paul Farrell: Your brain is killing America's capitalism * Quadrangle Group doesn't seem to be doing deals, so it might as well host top-secret media conferences. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London slips below 5k, European shares extend losses on banks, the Nikkei keeps falling and China shares hit 2-month high. RBS and Lloyds agree to a major shakeup. * VC-backed bust: ProQuo, which raised $15m from DFJ and Mission Ventures. * Australian private equity fund-raising has gone down under. Way down under. * Pay-to-Play: Kevin McCabe has verbally agreed to settle with Andrew Cuomo, and repay $535,000 he received for helping to secure New York State pension fund business for GKM Newport Management. No admission of wrongdoing, of course...

* CIT goes for broke, leaving small businesses to worry * Move over Cayman Islands. Shove off Switzerland. The world's most secretive financial jurisdiction (read: tax haven) is... Delaware! * Skype stuff: Om reports that the VoIP giant and its founders could be nearing a legal resolution, thus shaving the hair off that pending $2.75 billion carveout. The Mercury News reports on some damaging emails from former Joost CEO, and current Index Ventures partner, Mike Volpi. Ian Andrew Bell wonders if SIP could save Skype. * Morning Call: U.S. futures signal rebound after Friday selloff, London rises early, European shares drift lower, the Nikkei keeps dropping and China shares gain on strong earnings. * Fitch: The refinancing cliff is frightening * Big business keeps hoarding cash * The Top 10 Internet memes of 2009 * Will U.S. private equity firms storm UK bank vaults?

* Goodbye Mumbai: Private equity and hedge funds rush out of India. * The world's 50 most valuable Internet startups * Silicon Valley VC confidence stays steady in Q3, according to a study by the University of San Francisco (.pdf). Unfortunately, that's a big like saying the Washington Redskins' performance has stayed steady. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London falls early, European shares rebound, the Nikkei hits 3-week closing low and down markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai. * Blackstone Group's Tony James: “I think we’re on a verge of a shift, which will be gradual — not overnight or two years from now — where the big capital pools shift away from America, to Asia, the Middle East, Australia and even Latin America.” * Nate Anderson: After net neutrality, will we need Google neutrality? * Josh Kopelman: "The initial funds of Accel, Kleiner Perkins, CRV, Mayfield, Venrock, Greylock, NEA, TA & Sequoia combined were under $125M." If you adjust for inflation, their average fund size was still just $55 million.

Reuters sent a cameraman to our Boston cleantech event last night, and used some of the clips as part of our weekly video conversation:

* Jeffrey Katz: The recent increase in earnout provisions will likely result in numerous post-acquisition disputes. * The House of Reps add new exemptions (i.s. tomorrow's loopholes) to their investment fund registration bill, including one for funds with $150 million or less in committed capital. * BusinessWeek asks "Who Will Be the Green VC Giant?" Unfortunately, the mag apparently is stuck in a past decade, believing that only Kleiner Perkins and Vinod Khosla are viable contenders for the crown. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares hit 3-week low, the Nikkei gets dragged down by tech and Shanghai edges higher. * For Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, failure is an option. * Bleeding Biotech: Must Congress do more to encourage biotech investment? * Remember when John Reed helped kill Glass-Steagall? Well, now he wants it reanimated. * Tweet of the Day, from @george_chen: "I spent 1 year in Beijing to lobby officials for IPO. I had 3 daily tasks: Eat, drink and something else you can guess," says a dealmaker.

Time for financial types to pick their Halloween costumes: Paulson as Leatherface, Bernanke as Dracula, Arthur Levitt as Dillinger, Geithner as Damien, Blankfein as a Giant Vampire Squid... * Michael Corkery: What Bill Belichick could teach Goldman Sachs * Have private equity bakeoffs returned to the middle markets? * Morning Call: U.S. futures point to mixed open, London opens flat, European shares edge higher, the Nikkei takes a tumble and both Hong Kong and Shanghai hit multi-week lows. * VentureSource: VC investment outside the U.S. rises 23% in Q3 * Jeremy Grantham believes the last hurrah (a.k.a. sucker's rally) is almost over. Download his Q3 letter here * European venture capitalists believe recent buyout losses will mean VC fundraising gains. Have they looked at recent VC returns? And by recent, I mean the past decade.

* James Surowiecki: Why banks stay big (Related: Financial reg bill expected to be unveiled today) * Hey VCs: Remember, it's not your company * Chris Douvos: "Sometimes I wonder if Silicon Valley is the modern version of Fitzgerald's Jazz Age playground." * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early on commodities and pharma, European shares climb on oil, the Nikkei hits 4-week closing high and both Hong Kong and Chinese shares surge. * Paul Graham: What startups are really like * Chadwick Matlin: Why we should all be happy if Hulu makes us pay. * CIT CEO's wife is very angry about those pay caps for TARP recipients. * Tips on how to manage your email inbox (I think I'm going to try George Colony's "one touch" rule).

* The Economist: "Western private-equity firms trying to enter China run into two problems: getting their money in and getting their money out." * Cerberus is planning to float rifle maker Freedom Group, just as the firearms bubble appears ready to burst. * The comment period has ended on proposed FAS 157 revisions, and Jennifer Rossa has a roundup. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares bounce back on banks, Nikkei closes up 0.2% and Hong Kong and Shanghai both surge. * Buzz Bissinger: Why Moneyball has failed. * Jason Mendelson: When to shut down your startup. * Photo gallery of top moments from the Web 2.0 Summit. * Former VC Tony Audino is guiding Seattle startup Conenza through Chapter 11 (btw: Happy 1st birthday TechFlash!).

* James Altucher: Should insider trading be made legal? * eBay says that its deal to sell 65% of Skype to private equity and VC firms will close later this quarter, even though the agreement is hairier than a barber's broom. Also says that Skype's revenue rose 29% year-over-year. * Steven Davidoff: A recent court decision could help revive management buyouts (only quibble is that I'm not sure why he thinks MBOs are "relics of the 1980's"). * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares drop on Ericsson earnings, the Nikkei slides and Chinese markets get spooked by a government comment that caused worries over inflation and possible monetary tightening. * Bijan Sabet: "Often times the winner doesn’t take it all. And the best way to compete with the winner (or current market leader) is by either doing less (not more) and focusing on one thing and doing it very well." * Steve Ballmer says the Internet was created for PCs, not for the iPhone. He's right, of course, and the corollary is that current mobile network capacity was designed for dumb phones (not all those hoggish iPhone apps).

* Steve Rattner speaks (or, more specifically, writes) about his time as car czar. No mention of why he left, or when he'll enable Quadrangle Group to settle with Andrew Cuomo. * VC playoffs: Boston vs. New York (hey, we've gotta win something) * California AG Jerry Brown takes aim at State Street for defrauding CalPERS, and CNBC takes aim at Jerry Brown. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London opens flat, European shares fall on financials, not much Nikkei movement and drops for both Hong Kong and Shanghai. * Mary Meeker's Internet deck from the Web 2.0 conference. * Daniel Yergen: A financial crisis in search of a narrative. * Fred Wilpon, Madoff victim winner? * Q&A with Twitter's Ev Williams and Federated Media's John Battelle.