...personnel story of the week -- Jim Press leaving Toyota for Chrysler.

He was Toyota's highest ranking American, a member of its board, a 37-year veteran, an international business statesman of the first rank. He was a highly valued player on the winningest team in the auto industry -- all of which he will be giving up to assist Chrysler, now owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.

He may be motivated by the challenge that Chrysler represents even more than the vast sums he will undoubtedly be paid if successful. But like any rational person, he doesn't give up a secure, high-paying job in favor of another job, one that if successful would yield billions in profits for his new employer, without expecting to share in those rewards himself.

That's the way the world works. That's the way private equity works. If Mr. Press had left to run the Red Cross, nobody else would be getting rich off his efforts and he wouldn't expect to either.

Which just shows the PE revolution isn't merely the product of a "tax loophole." It's about concentrating management incentives and talent to wring more wealth out of businesses that aren't doing so well in other hands.