..Over seven years, Payless went through a wringer of private equity and hedge fund stewardship that left it with inadequate technology, run-down stores and no financial cushion to survive an era of upheaval in retail. .. Financial managers exert greater control over nearly all American companies than they once did. Their willingness to cause some pain — to close factories, lay people off, renegotiate arrangements with longtime suppliers — is, many economists argue, a feature, not a bug .. The American economy has become markedly less dynamic. Fewer businesses are being started, and the newcomers are having less success unseating...