If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about concerning Private-Equity takeovers of blue-chip companies, here is an excellent explanatory article by Irwin Stelzer in the British Sunday Times. He takes a broadly favourable view of the venture capitalists and what he sees as their contribution to the economy. [Private Equity]

The nub of the problem?

The controversy began, in part, because company executives, unconstrained by the dispersed and therefore relatively powerless company owners (also known as shareholders), persuaded many supine boards of directors to award compensation bearing little relationship to performance.

So, all is forgiven, then?

I’m assuming you’re not one of nature’s money launderers, and all your financial dealings are honest ones. How then would you avoid clandestine attempts to turn you into a launderer of stolen cash?

Here’s one solution : reject all emails that ask you to help with transferring a large sum of money from one place to another, neither of which you have any connection with.

We’ve all received them : our inbox pings and we find an URGENT MESSAGE (they’re often in capital letters), from Mr Winston Churchill Obongo, President of Barclays Bank, Nigeria, who pleads for our help in transferring a $10m inheritance to a destitute widow in the USA/UK, or wherever we happen to live.

We delete them, of course. Only the most credulous or ill-informed people on the planet would fall for such a crude ploy.

Now, however, something more insidiously believable is doing the rounds. It pretends to come from the genuine clothing company, Harvey’s of Oldham, England. Its sender calls himself, Ronald Harvey. He says his company moves money around the world, but falls foul of a 25 percent “international money transfer tax” on businesses. Individuals, apparently only pay 7 percent.

You can see where this is going. You are the key to reducing Harvey’s costs by 18 percent. All you have to do is accept funds into your bank and use a money transfer firm to send it on around the world. You receive 10 percent.

You may, of course, wonder why you’ve been singled out, but the lure of 10 percent of whatever millions are shooting through, is a persuasive one. The snag is that in Britain banks by law demand to know where any sum over £10,000 has come from. Nevertheless, a regular transfer of £9,900 would get through the cracks.

The bottom line is that the money transfer tax doesn’t exist and the money will be stolen. By getting into the loop you’ll be rendering it squeaky clean for the recipient.

Ronald Harvey turns out to be “Michael” with a distinctive African accent. The scam has nothing to do with the Oldham workwear firm.

That may seem a silly question since most people would answer : “In the local shopping mall”. But, if you’re reading this, you would probably give a different reply. Here’s our U.S. finance correspondent to give his answer :

What should you do with your idle cash? Let’s say you’re responsible and you’ve accumulated an emergency fund. This is money that you can’t take risk with, but it would be nice to earn something on it, right? Depending on what you want, the world is full of options.

You can always leave it in a checking or savings account. Of course, you won’t earn much. Most brick and mortar banks are still paying almost nothing on deposits. However, the internet bank accounts make it more appealing. HSBC, INGDirect, and Capital One all have competitive rates these days – with no fees or minimum balance requirements. Whatever bank you use, make sure it’s FDIC insured.

You can also use money market funds. These are technically mutual funds that invest in short term issues. The advantage of a money market fund over a bank product is that the interest rate will likely change more rapidly (of course, that’s only an advantage if rates are going up and not down). The disadvantage of a money market is that there’s technically a possibility that you can lose your money if the underlying “money markets” fall apart. Read the fund’s prospectus to see what it invests in, and how you feel about that risk.

With a money market, you can sometimes get a checkbook to access your cash. They don’t like for you to write small checks, so they impose a minimum check size (like $500 per check). With a bank product, you usually link your account to a checking account and move money electronically when you’re ready to spend it. With either type of account, you can make deposits by check or electronically.

Which is better? It depends. Look them both over, compare rates, and figure out what suits your needs.