Too much money, too few ideas

Everybody agrees all the major hedge fund arb strategies are overfunded and maxed out. In its recent survey of private equity, the Economist notes that PE funds are having trouble finding exit strategies because they can't IPO and big corporate buyers aren't stepping in, making Private Equity a troublesome place to leave money. Where are the truly High Net Worth to put all their cash? LVMH can't absorb it all. Break out the violins.

They'll tell you that VC industry provides capital to start ups. Why does it need to exit? Why can't investors stick around for a business to mature and live off the income from them, like the god-fearing entrepreneurs of the dinner tables of yore?

What it all boils down to is too much money chasing too few ideas, and I mean real world ideas, not investment strategies. What have we come up with since the bubble burst? Offshoring. Itunes. Sarbanes-Oxley. The Patriot Act. That's about it. GM rebadges the Impreza as a Saab. Shiver me timbers.

If the superrich don't know what to do with their money, one idea might be, ummm, a more progressive tax structure to pay down the frickin deficit. Golly.

Generally entrepreneurialism beat down by corporate culture. With a big box for everything or a website category killer, and the rest of the web to spread ideas quickly, there's room for fewer consumer and business facing niches.

Meanwhile, out in California, one of the few, the proud Grousereaders has nurtured a consumer products idea in his capacious bosom for some time, and will soon unleash it on America with a fury like none seen for many a quarter! I think it has something to do with computers... Stay tuned.