On Capitol Hill on Thursday, the House oversight committee will grill some of the world’s most highly paid hedge fund managers in a special hearing. Expect lots of hand-wringing on tax and remuneration, and loose commentary on systemic risk.

Left unspoken, however, will be what hedge funds call the macro picture. For the fact is that there are just too many of them. The universe of funds – including funds of funds – has expanded from more than 600 in 1990 to more than 10,000 today, according to Hedge Fund Research.