*James Surowiecki: How “stimulus” became a political obscenity

* Jason Mendelson: Want an introduction to one of our portfolio companies? Here is what NOT to do.

* Morning Call: U.S. futures down ahead of retail sales data, London opens flat, European shares retreat and the Nikkei falls.

* Joachim Fels: Crisis, credit and capital

* Freeman & Co: Alternative manager deals will outpace traditional manager deals in 2010 (.pdf)

* Eliza Barclay: It’s time to address what may be an even bigger scourge than bedbugs in American cities: bedbug misdiagnosis.

* Breaking Views notes that PE firms this year may do more selling than buying, and attributes the shift to upcoming tax changes (increase in cap gains rates, possible change to carried interest tax, etc.). I don’t quite buy it. First, the cap gains changes also affect non-PE-owned businesses, meaning that should be lots of buying opportunities (which matters, given PE overhang). Second, lots of those PE sales in 2010 have been secondary sales (i.e., to other buyout firms).

* Nouriel Roubini, the cartoon

* Elliot Turner: Are young investors a poker generation?

* Gwen Moran: What you need to know about the small business bill