Archive - Jul 28, 2013

Following up on yesterday's essay comparing Walter Bagehot to a modern-day shadow banker, we have received numerous requests for more information on this fundamentally critical  financial topic. So without further ado, we present a full and unabridged map of the modern shadow banking system.

With the bloodiest weekend since the ouster of Mubarak, it seems the supposed coup-less people's revolution appears to be edging ever closer to civil war. Egypt lies at the heart of the Arab revolution, even if the original spark occurred in Tunisia. But Egypt – with its strategic location, stable borders, large population, and ancient history – has been the principal power of the Arab world for centuries, defining the movement of history there like no other. This implies that the overthrow of Egypt’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, will have much broader repercussions. Europe's bloody revolutions of the 19th century changed the status quo forever and while the Arab world might not be so deeply affected, the near future there will certainly be neither peaceful nor stable.

While everyone's attention is focused on the Detroit bankruptcy, and just what assets the city will sell in lieu of raising a DIP loan, perhaps it is time to refocus attention to the city 300 miles west: Chicago. According to the Chicago Sun Times, Obama's former right hand man, Rahm Emanuel, closed the books on 2012 with $33.4 million in unallocated cash on hand — down from $167 million the year before — while adding to the mountain of debt piled on Chicago taxpayers, citing year-end audits. In addition to a liquidity problem, Chicago may also be quite insolvent as the city's total long-term debt soared to nearly $29 billion. That’s $10,780 for every one of the city’s nearly 2.69 million residents. More than a decade ago, the debt load was $9.6 billion or $3,338 per resident. Of course, in a world in which debt is "wealth", this is great news... at least until debt becomes "bankruptcy."