peHUB First Read

* Bill Gurley fisks Tom Friedman's proposal for a government-backed "venture capital bank." Gurley is a venture capitalist with Benchmark Capital, and is right on the money with his analysis. My only (tiny) criticism is that Gurley should acknowledge that certain VC-backed cleantech companies are having a tough time getting later-stage capital, because they had expected to project finance market to be open. But that still doesn't negate Gurley's thesis, since some private firms (Blackstone, CMEA, C Change) are now rushing in to fill that void. * Andrew Leonard with some thoughtful comments on the mortgage bailout proposal. This would be as opposed to Rick Santelli's overhyped rant, in which he actually said that Chicago Merc Exchange traders represent a "cross-section of America." Hey Rick, you need to get out more. * Pete Lattman writes that Warburg Pincus may be having (good) Mellon flashbacks, vis-a-vis MBIA's plan to split itself in two. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point even lower, European shares hit six-year low in early trading, London drops, Japan's Topix index hits quarter-century low and Hong Kong also falls. * Chris Flowers says he was "shocked" by Merrill Lynch's losses, even though he had been advising BoA on the purchase.