Briac

* The State of Illinois was set to sell $1.4 billion in bonds today, but it's had to add a bit of new information to the offering. * Global secondaries firm Coller Capital has released its latest Private Equity Barometer, which surveys 100 limited partners in private equity. Most respondants expect (or even raise!) their current allocations to private equity, although they also expect to bump up against those allocations much sooner than in years past. In other words, gone are the days of 10% target allocation and 5% exposure. Here's the report for your downloading pleasure. * Top 10 reasons for the credit crunch. * Morning call: U.S. futures point higher, European shares fall on bank and telecom pressures, Nikkei closes at one-month high and Hong Kong hits two-month mark. * PaidContent with some behind-the-scenes of why venture firm Rustic Canyon sold a big chunk of its portfolio to secondaries firm Saints Capital. * Joseph Stiglitz on Capitalist Fools: "Behind the debate over remaking U.S. financial policy will be a debate over who’s to blame. It’s crucial to get the history right."

* Is Mexico the next disaster? * Barry Diller: “The idea of a company that’s earning money, not losing money, that’s not, let’s say ‘industrially endangered,’ to have just cutbacks so they can earn another $12 million or $20 million or $40 million in a year where no one’s counting is really a horrible act when you think about it on every level. First of all, it’s certainly not necessary. It’s doing it at the worst time. It’s throwing people out to a larger, what is inevitably a larger unemployment heap for frankly no good reason.” * Carney vs. Creswell vs. Black. Most interesting part of that NYT interview, by the way, was when Black said that Apollo "has turned into a bond house." Also, kudos to Erin for basically writing the same story a week ago. * Morning Call: U.S. futures rise on auto bailout hopes, European shares up at mid-day, Nikkei and Hong Kong also jump. * Leslie Stahl and Peggy Noonan: VC-backed entrepreneurs. * John Thain wants a $10 million bonus.

* Oil at $25 per barrel? * Could the BCE acquisition -- which would be the largest leveraged buyout in history -- become just another PIPE deal? * Paul Graham: "When VC funding dried up after the Internet Bubble, startups dried up too. There were not a lot of new startups being founded in 2003. But startups aren't tied to VC the way they were 10 years ago. It's now possible for VCs and startups to diverge. And if they do, they may not reconverge once the economy gets better." * Mixed start for U.S. futures as investors wait for payroll data, FTSE down on oil, rest of Europe falls on miners and banks, Nikkei slips and Hong Kong rallies. * Simon Walker: “There is some truth in the accusation that in recent years, with the availability of easy credit, private equity has maybe got a bit lazy." Remove all the equivocation Simon, and you've got it nailed.

* Jim Cramer wants to be SEC chair. * Peter Fisher wants the U.S. Treasury to sell 100-year bonds. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point downward, European shares drop on oil and bank woes, Nikkei and Hong Kong keep rising. * The biggest losers: Russian oligarch edition.

What follows are seven VC deals culled from recent Regulation D filings with the SEC (all original format, not revised format). They have not been otherwise disclosed: Paratek Microwave Inc., a Columbia, Md.-based provider of adaptive RF front-end component solutions for mobile wireless applications, has raised $20 million in Series E funding, according to a regulatory filing. Listed shareholders include Polaris Venture Partners, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Morgenthaler, Investor AB, STMicroelectronics and ABS Ventures. The company previously raised over $118 million since 1999. www.paratek.com ExtendMedia Corp., a Newton, Mass.-based provider of online video distribution software and services, has raised $10 million in Series C funding, according to a regulatory filing. Return backers include Atlas Venture, Venrock Associates and TVM. The company had previously raised

* Governments may be modeling themselves on Henry Kravis, but it's a fundamentally boneheaded move. * The Blackstone Group has become financial advisor to Ukraine, "highlighting the US private equity group's ambition to become the consultant of choice for countries faced with financial crisis." * Morning call: U.S. futures down, despite a surprisingly strong weekend for retailers, FTSE and other European shares both lower at mid-day, Nikkei weighed down by the yen and Hong Kong rises for 5th straight session. * Rich men are cutting back on payments to mistresses. Gotta love that someone actually surveys this stuff. * Whole Foods turns used canola oil into electricity.

What follows are ten VC deals culled from recent Regulation D filings with the SEC. They have not been otherwise disclosed: Cogentus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Menlo Park, Calif.-based developer of antiplatelet therapies for cardiovascular disease, has secured $7.5 million of a $22.5 million Series C round, according to a regulatory filing. Listed backers include Keffi Group, Prospect Venture Partners and Ridgeback Capital. The company had previously raised over $62 million. www.cogentus.net KickApps, a New York-based developer of social networking tools for existing websites, has raised

* Daniel Gross: Why all those Great Depression analogies are wrong. * Europeans may have been nationalizing for longer, but we sure do it faster. Citi last night got $20 billion in new capital and has government backing for $306 billion worth of commercial and residential mortages. Here are the actual agreement terms. Blodget reax. * Speaking of buying up bad mortgages, John Paulson has entered the arena. * Morning call: U.S. futures rise on Citigroup bailout news, European shares surge for the same reason and Hong Kong is more concerned with HSBC. * Kara Swisher reports that Facebook recently tried to buy Twitter for $500 million.

* Chrysler is providing Cerberus with all sorts of unwelcome publicity and scrutiny. * An analyst calls Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones acquisition a dud. * Neil Kashkari: Sexiest moneyman alive? * Morning call: All eyes on Citi, as U.S. futures are up nearly 4%, European shares are up, Nikkei gains nearly 3% and talk of a Chinese rate cut boosts Hong Kong. * The rise of the journo-gurus.

* Great Depression 2009: What it would look like. * Can't pay your debts? Just send your lender a hand-drawn spider. * A refi conundrum as PE loans come due. * Morning Call: U.S. futures up, VW and banks drag down European shares at mid-day, Nikkei gains and Hong Kong steady in thin trading. * Scott Kirsner: How entrepreneurs plan to survive -- and thrive -- the recession. * Stephen Crawford: Beyond Mark-to-Market.