Briac

* The rise, and fall, of Hank Morris * Kurt Anderson: America hits the reset button * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares decline, the Nikkei's rally is snapped and Hong Kong rises. * Most adults still don't know what Twitter is * Matthew Goldstein: Let's hope Mary Shapiro is a better regulator than money manager, given the lousy investment performance at FINRA (which she previously ran). * Fortune argues that PE dealmaking will remain sluggish because of existing portfolio management requirements (major bubble activity+few exits=mucho manhours). I certainly agree that portfolio management is taking up more time than ever, but slow investment volume is still primarily a byproduct of credit (un)availability and bid/ask spreads. If there was leverage and mutually-amenable pricing, PE firms would find the extra time to get new deals done.

* Hazem al-Braikan, a Kuwaiti accused of making a bogus takeover bid for Harman International, has died in an apparent suicide. * Would-be entrepreneur spoofs the identities of three well-known venture capitalists, in a (very) misguided attempt to get attention/funding. * Blackrock plans to offer up a distressed asset fund to public investors. * Morning Call: U.S. futures signal gains ahead of housing data, London rises early, European shares climb on banks, the Nikkei continues its winning streak and Hong Kong gains. * The best time to invest in social networks is when the corporates sell. * Bloody socker Curt Schilling is still trying to raise venture capital for his gaming studio. We first reported on the quest two years ago, which means most everyone has said "no" at least once.

* Floyd Norris: "The era of financial globalization may be coming to an end." * Q&A with Kevin Conway of Clayton Dubilier & Rice: "My guess is -- given how badly the industry has managed its PR and how loud the cry for a villain is -- the pendulum will probably swing a little further than we would like." * Video of Adam Lashinsky's 1-on-1 with Twitter's Biz Stone, from the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference. * Morning Call: U.S futures point higher, London rises early, European shares keep climbing, the Nikei gains 1.6% and Hong Kong and China shares scale new heights. * Not just a PE-backed IPO filing, but a PE-backed IPO filing for a retail chain! * While the FDIC continues to ponder rules to govern PE investment in financial institutions, regional banks have reached the brink. * Javier Bardem turns down a role in the Wall Street sequel (Gordon Gekko II: Financial Boogaloo). Apparently it's better to play a sociopathic hit-man than a hedge fund manager.

* CIT = Capitalism in Transition * Another PE pro heads to Washington: Jeffrey Goldstein of Hellman & Friedman is Obama's choice for Treasury undersecretary of domestic finance. * Would you stand on a plane for cheaper tickets? * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London flattens, European shares slide, the Nikkei hits a three-week high and Hong Kong jumps 2.6 percent. * Fortress Investment Group plans to give new CEO Daniel Mudd a $1.9 million bonus for 2009, even though he hasn't even started work yet. And he's guaranteed a bonus no smaller than $1.8 million next year, even if the company tanks (kind of like Mudd's last charge, Fannie Mae, did). Why even bother calling it a bonus? * Nouriel Roubini: Can Japan avoid another lost decade? * Gilt Group CEO Kevin Ryan says raising VC funding is still a breeze for quality IT companies. He doth not protest enough.

* You can now get a master's degree in business ethics and compliance. * Sim Simeonov: Startups that VCs are dying to invest in. * Dredge funds: Tracking the stimulus on the Mississippi. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London slips early, European shares break winning streak, the Nikkei hits two-week high and China shares post their best gain in seven weeks. * The Carlyle Group has a Facebook squatter. * After dark, a Boston-area VC firm turns into an iPhone skunkworks. * David Reilly: Goldman Sachs' PR problem could take a bite out of its profits.

* CIT = SAVED * LPs step up: WSJ reports that investors in Citi's $3.4 billion infrastructure fund have voted to stop new investments, after several high-profile deal collapses and co-head Michael Froman's departure for the Obama Administration. In similar news, The FT reports that LPs in Nordwind Capital have blocked a proposed investment in the U.S. in-vitro fertilization clinic market, saying that it violates the German turnaround firm's investment strategy. * David Weinberger: Transparency is the new objectivity. * Morning Call: U.S. futures up after CIT rescue, London rises early, European shares rise on banks and pharma, the Nikkei gains 0.6% despite political worries and Hong Kong hits 10-month closing high. * Steve Lohr: The crowd is wise, when it's focused. * Nate Silver challenges all climate change skeptics * Q&A with new AOL boss Tim Armstrong, including discussion of the revived/refocused AOL Ventures.

* A Tale of Two Bailouts: "Goldman will surely deny that its risk-taking is subsidized by the taxpayer -- but then so did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, right up to the bitter end. An implicit government guarantee is only free until it's not, and when the bill comes due it tends to be huge. So for the moment, Goldman Sachs -- or should we say Goldie Mac? -- enjoys the best of both worlds: outsize profits for its traders and shareholders and a taxpayer backstop should anything go wrong." * Seven large companies beating the economic odds * CNBC vs. Denninger vs. Roubini * Morning Call: U.S. futures slip on GE earnings, London gears up for best week since January, European shares having their best week since November, the Nikkei rises 0.6% and Chinese stocks hit 13-month high. * Politico: Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech wears well * Benchmark Capital's Bill Gurley chimes in on the "free" debate. * Cerberus reportedly has bought Alpha Media, the Maxim magazine publisher that Quadrangle Group wrote off a while back.

* Joe Weisenthal: Will CIT become Obama's Lehman Brothers? In related a question, will those who derisively said Obama would "keep digging" (like this one), now laud Obama for letting CIT fall? * Jonathan Weil: CIT's capital was all talk, no trousers. * Morning Call: U.S. futures rise on JPMorgan results, London falls early, European shares extend gains, the Nikkei gains 0.8% and Hong Kong rises 0.6%. * Best. VC. Homepage. Ever. * Carlyle Group execs in the WSJ: Let private equity help banks. * A list of the 25 top econoblogs. * Testimony from Flywheel Ventures' Trevor Loy (.pdf), on behalf of the NVCA at yesterday's Senate subcommittee hearing on proposed rules that would require all VC, PE and hedge funds to register as investment advisors. Not surprisingly, he was less enthusiastic than the folks over at Private Equity Council.

* Harold Meyerson: Is Robert Rubin the modern-day Robert McNamara? * Marion Maneker: The economics of narcissism. * How to write an MBA admissions essay. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares climb on tech, the Nikkei flattens and Hong Kong jumps. * The question that stumped RIM's co-CEOs yesterday came from a child: "Are you going to make a phone more for kids so that my Mom will let me get one?" * Someone has accessed hundreds of confidential Twitter docs, and sent them to TechCrunch. The website has decided that it will publish ones related to financial projections and other business matters, but not more "personal" ones, like job applicants who currently remain employed elsewhere. I'm all for publishing confidential docs, but only if the sender had legitimate access to them in the first place (or if the sender was given them by a legitimate accessor). In other words, a "leaker." The guy in this situation, however, is an unapologetic hacker. In other words, a "thief." As such, TechCrunch should (regrettably) dump the whole lot down a trash chute. Or, at the very least, work to obtain independent confirmation of the financial info. Unfortunately, that's not what it plans to do.

* BizWeek: CIT is not too big to fail. * Speaking of BizWeek, who's gonna buy it? Could Conde Nast get over its Portfolio PTSD, or is this a Dow Jones vs. BLoomberg sort of thing? * First Read: U.S. futures higher ahead of Goldman earnings, London falls early, European shares rise, the Nikkei gains 2.3% and Hong Kong jumps. * Another day, another Facebook valuation. This one is $6.5 billion. * Family Matters: Forbes Piano Co. of Birmingham, Ala. was hurt by the recession, but that isn't why it's shutting down after 120 years. * Matthew Lynn says Jobs' and Buffett's medical secrets are no one else's business: "A company is never dependent on one person, no matter how it may appear. Assets, brand names, and a corporate culture should prove durable even when the person who created them departs. If a company relies on the health of a single person, you should sell the shares right away. Nobody is immortal, so the equity is going to collapse one day."