My weekly roundup of important financial and media news you may have missed

What We've Been Reading - Week of Sept. 4

Markets & Economy:

• Junk debt getting crowded (WSJ)
• McDonald’s pushes out smaller franchisees (Businessweek)
• Should China’s debt levels worry you? (NYT)
• Markets see Fed on hold (Bloomberg)
• Regulators seek tighter controls on investment by big banks (NYT)
• Gundlach puts his finger on the bond market tipping point (Bloomberg)

Asset Management:

• Goldman Sachs bans partners from political contributions (Politico)

Long Reads:

• How Elizabeth Holmes’s House of Cards Came Tumbling Down (Vanity Fair)

Alternatives:

• Private Equity tries to chip away at Dodd-Frank with House bill (NYT)
• Alternative investors find it increasingly difficult to find right opportunities (FinAlts)
• Activist/Distressed strategies lead returns for second straight month (FinAlts)

Media Industry and Journalism:

• Public Relations Firm Claims to Have Ghost Written Thousands of Op-Eds in  Major U.S. Newspapers (counterpunch.org)
• Goldman Sachs surveys its summer interns to ask them, among other things, how they stay informed (GS.com)
• Politico co-founder launches news venture for corporate executives (WSJ)
• How the Murdochs Enabled Roger Ailes and Failed Fox News (Fortune)
• Jonathan Rinehart, founder of public relations firm, dies at 86 (NYT)