"...And the overarching issue is that investors in private equity like public pension funds have no idea how much they are paying in total costs and fees. The lack of transparency not only means they are ignorant of the total drag, but it also means they can't negotiate effectively to reduce costs, particularly since many private equity charges are cleverly structured so that if you squeeze the balloon one place, the private equity managers can recoup much or all of the apparent fee reduction somewhere else..."