peHUB First Read

* China's great wall of private equity * Tom Hicks: "Liverpool FC will be the most profitable investment I have ever made." * An argument in favor of carry-on bag fees (no, the author is not employed by Spirit Air) * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares pare gains, the Nikkei dips and Hong Kong shares climb. * The chairman of Alibaba.com has set up a private equity firm. * Andrew Ross Sorkin: "What purpose does a synthetic C.D.O., which contains no actual mortgage bonds, serve for the capital markets, and for society?" * Steve Jobs: “We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy and Android phone.“ * Xconomy, a network of hyper-local business/innovation news sites, is opening shop in Detroit. This might sound foreign to folks on the coasts -- Xconomy's first three sites were Boston, Seattle and San Diego -- but Detroit could yield its most interesting stories. Automotive innovation as salvation, cleantech as the city's next generation or a continued slide into the abyss... However it plays out, I'll be reading.