Briac

* Yet another private company stock exchange is poised to launch, following recent efforts like SecondMarket, XChange, InsideVenture, etc. This one is called SharesPost, and features a photo of Adeo Ressi on its homepage (which would seem to indicate more interest in entrepreneurial clients than VC clients). * Joseph Stiglitz: "When the current crisis is over, the reputation of American-style capitalism will have taken a beating—not least because of the gap between what Washington practices and what it preaches. Disillusioned developing nations may well turn their backs on the free market." * Morning Call: U.S. futures are mixed, London opens flat, European shares rise, the Nikkei climbs 1.6% and China stocks slide on IPO worries. * George Soros: Credit default swaps are "instruments of destruction," and should be banned. * Jeff Segal on the Sand Hill Mafia, and the problems it could pose for Obama. * McKinsey releases a study on what natural and economic disasters have in common.

* David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners: When failure is an option. * Dave Callaway: 10 reasons why the worst of the financial crisis is behind us, and why investors should still be scared. * You a Silicon Valley entrepreneur in search of seed funding? Maybe you should drop by First Round Capital, which this afternoon is holding San Francisco office hours. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London opens flat, European stocks rise, the Nikkei tops 10k (yes, that rhymes) and Chinese stocks slip on IPO worrries. * Zipcar is planning to go public next year. * Mini Mini Madoff: Financial planner Matthew Weitzman accused of stealing around $6 million from his clients, who include NY Times personal finance columnist Ron Leiber.

* Remember all that old (bogus) talk about LBO firm collusion? Well, things don't look too clubby anymore. * Jack McHugh: Some questions for the "Perfect 10" TARP repayers. * Forget traditional economics. Just pay attention to the underwear index. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European stocks rise on oil & TARP repayment, the Nikkei hits 8-month closing high and Hong Kong snaps slump. * 10 dumbest tech products so far. * Paritosh Bansal: J.C. Flowers also bid for BankUnited, thus keeping intact its streak of bidding on virtually every troubled financial institution on the block (and for losing most of those auctions).

* peHUB returns to Chicago in one week from tonight, for a Shindig with the area's PE pros, venture capitalists and assorted hangers-on. Get tickets here. * Q&A with Mike Moritz of Sequoia Capital. Unfortunately, no questions on the endowment advisory biz, or hedge fund platform. * Jim Cramer: Thank Big Ben for saving us from the second Great Depression. * Fidelity signs a deal to market IPO shares of KKR portfolio companies to its retail customers. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares decline, the Nikkei hits an 8-month closing high and Hong Kong shares drop. * Paid Twitter streams have arrived. * May was good to hedge funds, which posted their best performance in a decade. * Pete Peterson is about to be publicly embarrassed by yet another relative.

* James Bennet of the Atlantic suggests that Mitt Romney should run General Motors. Bennet's colleague Derek Thompson likes the idea, but says it's never going to happen. * Bank of America and Wells Fargo get sued by buyers of debt that helped finance Lightstone Capital's 2007 purchase of the Extended Stay hotel chain from The Blackstone Group. The plaintiffs accuse the banks of colluding on a “Machiavellian scheme” to take control of the properties just in time for the busy summer travel season. * Ryan Avent: The tyranny of cost-benefit analysis (and of economists in general) * Morning Call: U.S. futures signal rebound, London rises early, European shares advance ahead of BoE and ECB decisions, the Nikkei slips on ships and Hong Kong shares fall. * Richard Fields: "It's always a good time to invest in litigation." * Job offers drop for MIT Sloan graduates. Speaking of which, Ritholtz has a graph comparing job openings to the number of unemployed.

* Bijan Sabet: Beware of the complicated deal. * Nikki Finke has plot and casting details for Wall Street II (which reads like it may be sub-headed "Gekko's Redemption"). * Catherine Rampell: How would the economy look under President McCain? * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London drops early, European shares down on banks and commodities, the Nikkei edges upwards and Hong Kong shares climb on recovery hopes. * Tim Geithner still can't sell his New York home. * NY Kickback Scandal Update: Seems David Loglisci told ethics overseers in 2003 that he had relinquished his financial ties to Chooch, the film he is accused of shaking down PE pros to help finance. This revelation is being portrayed as a hinderance to Cuomo and the SEC's case against Loglisci, but to me it reads like just a minor complication. Even if David Loglisci wasn't directly benefitting from Chooch, his brother still was (original investment was a family partnership) -- and people have been known to help out immediate family members from time to time. Unless, of course, there is evidence that David Leuschen and Saul Meyer also were pals of the brother...

* GM has agreed to sell its Hummer brand, but isn't yet saying who the buyer is. Last month, Reuters reported that there were three bidders, including PE firms. None was an automaker. This comes just hours after Platinum Equity agreed to buy Delphi out of bankruptcy. Wonder how all this is playing in Detroit, where PE right now is synonymous with Cerberus. Saviors or more scoundrels? * Sarah Lacey: Why China isn't the next Silicon Valley. * Harris Collingwood: "Many business scholars have grown skeptical of the idea of chief executive as superhero. Cutting-edge research reveals that while some CEOs clearly do make a big difference, many are merely the most visible cogs in complex machines." * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, Europe down on Barclays stake sale, the Nikkei keeps rising and Hong Kong's rally fades. * Q&A with Russ Wilcox, CEO of E-Ink (which yesterday agreed to be acquired for $215m). * Sugar Media buys back shares held by NBC-Universal, but doesn't exactly explain why or disclose the discount/premium. It also raised new cash from Sequoia Capital, bought a video shopping site and added a new biz unit.

* Foxes guarding the henhouse? Authorities probe insider trading at the SEC. * Super LP Chris Douvos on the good and the bad from annual meeting season. * Morning Call: U.S. futures are up, London drops early, European shares extend gains, the Nikkei rises 1.9% and Hong Kong rises. * GreenFuel Technologies shuts down, after $30 million in VC funding and an interim CEO stint by Bob Metcalfe. * Windjammer Capital sues portfolio company Brown Publishing, alleging that "the family-controlled Ohio chain shifted its newspapers and other assets to shell companies and was preparing a bankruptcy filing -- all with the aim of keeping the firm from collecting at least $9 million under a stock warrant agreement." * Top 10 cleantech acquisition targets * Late last year, Y Combinator's Paul Graham suggested that Web entrepreneurs no longer needed venture capitalists. Professor Robert Hendershott agrees.

* Tom Robbins keeps digging into how NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson talks the talk on placement agents, but doesn't walk the walk. * Candover's chairman says he's sorry. * NY Post reports that Clear Channel is in early talks to restructure its debt, and the term "prepackaged bankruptcy" has been broached. * Morning Call: U.S. futures are mixed, London inches lower, European shares flat as oil and banks cancel each other out, the Nikkei hits a two-week closing low and Hong Kong falls three percent. * Dan Mitchell: Defending Cheerios, Cereal of Liberty. * The Hank Morris-Bear Stearns connection. * Healthcare banker Jon Symonds is leaving Goldman Sachs for Novartis. Does that mean his grand plans for PE-backed pharma R&D have fizzled?

* At startups, boards spar over cash plans. * Huntsman vs. Hexion, Part XVI!QX!$: A Texas court rules that Huntsman Corp. can go forward with its multibillion dollar lawsuit against Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, related to Huntsman's failed takeover by Apollo portfolio company Hexion. * Morning Call: U.S. futures signal rebound, London stumbles early, European shares flatten, the Nikkei slides 1.6% and Hong Kong makes a small climb. * Goldman Sachs "agreed to reduce the size of subprime loans for some 700 Massachusetts homeowners by up to 35 percent." The deal is worth around $60 million. * Peter Rip: What venture capital can teach corporate America. * Bernie gets a cellie: Manhattan uber-attorney Marc Drier pleads guilty to investment fraud.