Detroit

A government that is operating under the credo "by the corporation for the corporation",  rather than "by the people for the people." 

Detroit may be on its way to becoming a ghost town, but the disappearance of homo sapiens from the streets just means the largest US bankrupt city is about to have a new master - man's formerly best friend, in the form of tens of thousands of stray dogs most of which happen to be a particularly vicious breed of pit bulls. Step aside Motown, and say hello to Dogtown.

Almost three years ago we warned of the consequence of the disincentives for the working man in the US at the lower-income level. Then, last November we noted the dismal fact that 'work is punished' in America for a large majority of the non-elites. And now, as the part-time new normal becomes more and more understood in the mainstream, we ask once again... If you could stay home and relax all day and actually make more money than you do at your current job, would you do it?

• So no great rotation into EM? Capital Flows Back to U.S. as Markets Slump Across Asia (BBG)
• Muslim Brotherhood leader arrested in Egypt (Reuters)
• Allies Thwart America in Egypt: Israel, Saudis and U.A.E. Support Military Moves (WSJ)
• Dear Bloomberg: when you buy the loans of a distressed retailer, you are not betting on a rebound, you are betting on being the fulcrum security in a bankruptcy: Kyle Bass Said to Bet on J.C. Penney Comeback With Loan Purchase (BBG)
• Bubbles Bloom Anew in Desert as Buyers Wager on Las Vegas (BBG)
• Britain rejects Spanish request for Gibraltar talks (Reuters)
• U.K. Mortgage Lending Rises to Highest Since Lehman Collapse (BBG)
• Pension Funds Dispute Math in Detroit Bankruptcy (WSJ)
• Christie Says Gayness Inborn as He Signs Therapy Measure (BBG)

BlackRock's fixed income CIO Rick Rieder is worried about the impact that higher rates will have on the stock market. In this brief interview with Bloomberg TV's Tom Keene, Rieder explains that while equities look 'cheap' given where rates are, this is a mis-pricing and warns (as we have repeatedly) that "people don't spend any time looking at cash-flow discounted by cost of financing, which is really where we think equity should be valued." In that case (as we have noted), a surge in financing costs will weigh heavily on stocks. While he is concerned about investors' general lack of awareness of the risk in bond funds - "the volatility in fixed income could actually be higher than the equity market," he fears the impact of higher rates on mortgages and other credit vehicles on the recovery. However, as Rieder notes they have been saying for a long time, "QE’s too big. You’ve got to taper down QE. It's created this tremendous distortion in interest rates," as he sees fair-value for the 10Y around 3.25%.

• Vocal billionaire activist IRR - 150x: Icahn bought $1 billion of AAPL stock, seeks $150 billion buyback (BBG)
• BlackBerry Said to Have Sought Buyers Since 2012 (BBG) - for a phone or the entire company?
• IPhone Fingerprint Reader Talk Boosting Biometric Stocks (BBG) - also, the NSA will need to grow its Utah data center
• UPS Jet Crashes in Birmingham, Ala. (WSJ)
• America's Farm-Labor Pool Is Graying (WSJ)
• Hong Kong Lowers Storm Signal as Typhoon Closes on China (BBG)
• Indian submarine explodes in Mumbai port (FT)
• BofA Banker Sued by Regulator Later Joined Fannie Mae (BBG)
• Software that hijacks visits to YouTube uncovered (FT)
• Chinese Billionaire Huang Readies Iceland Bid on Power Shift (BBG)
• China to launch fresh pharmaceutical bribery probe (Reuters)
• Defeat at J.C. Penney Hurts Ackman as Performance Trails (BBG)

• Solyndra Cola: California aims to 'bottle sunlight' in energy storage push (Reuters)
• Ackman may sues himself after all - Penney Board Assails Director William Ackman, Considered 'Rogue' After Releasing Deliberations (WSJ)
• CFTC subpoenas metals warehousing firm as inquiry heats up (Reuters)
• Obama Plan to Revamp NSA Faces Obstacles (WSJ)
• Japan growth slows in second quarter, adds to sales tax uncertainty (Reuters)
• China Urbanization to Hit Roadblocks Amid Local Opposition (BBG)
• Parents Losing Jobs a Hidden Cost to U.S. Head Start Budget Cuts (BBG)
• US seeks better access to Africa as part of trade pact review (FT)
• Singapore Cuts Trade Outlook as China Slowdown Caps Recovery (BBG)
• White House Sifts Fiscal Ideas With Band of Senators (WSJ)
• Spain may ask United Nations for support over Gibraltar (Reuters)
• Michigan Safety Net for Boomers Frays on Bankrupt Detroit (BBG)

Since Detroit’s Chapter 9 filing in late July, it has slipped off the front-pages to some extent. The Chapter 9 process is underway and Barclays provides a deep-dive look at the various liabilities involved in the bankruptcy. From the pension obligation certificates (POC), which they believe could be subject to the most volatility over the course of the bankruptcy process and will likely recover no more than 30 cents on the dollar, Barclays' muni team expands on the various aspects of the eligibility process, historical precedents (such as Stockton, CA), and the tough decisions that investors face in deciding between short-term goal of certainty of payment or a long-term goal of maximizing returns. The judge has set a mid-March 2014 deadline for the city to file its plan of adjustment.

• JPMorgan Nears Settlement With SEC on London Whale Loss (BBG)
• Without even a wristslap: Iksil to face no U.S. charges in 'Whale' probe (Reuters)
• China’s Credit Expansion Slows as Li Curbs Shadow Banking (BBG)
• China slowdown shows signs of abating (FT), even as...
• Australia central bank Lowers Growth Outlook as Economy Transitions From Mining (BBG)
• SAC Business Plan Goes to Judge, Plan Would Allow Firm to Maintain Business Operations but Restrict Its Ability to Move Assets (WSJ)
• Another buyer of Herbalife? - Norway’s oil fund plans to turn active (FT)
• Mark Carney plays down scepticism over interest rate policy (FT)
• Orders Evaporate for Celebrity Perfumes (WSJ)

• Fukushima: "300 metric tons of contaminated water were likely leaking into the ocean daily" (WSJ)
• Unexpected strength in China trade data eases some gloom (Reuters) - actually, perfectly expected data fakery
• Pimco, BlackRock Seek to Bar California Mortgage Seizures (BBG)
• How will Amazon's Bezos change The Washington Post? (Reuters)
• Montreal Maine Railway Files for Bankruptcy After Crash (BBG)
• Fed Belongs to Everybody as Public Says It’s Our Money in Crisis (BBG)
• Local Russian TV channel broadcasts rare critical segment about Putin (Reuters)
• Loeb’s Reinsurer With No U.S. Staff Gains From Obama’s Jobs Act (BBG)
• As Berlusconi star fades, daughter Marina tipped as new leader (Reuters)
• Detroit Rattles Muni Market (WSJ)

Overnight, just as Japan was threatening to roll risk over even more (at the end of the day, or rather night, it did, sliding over 200 point bringing the two day total plunge to nearly 800 points) China reported trade numbers which were "better than expected" even though the net GDP contribution from the overall surplus was actually less than expected at $17.8 vs $27.1, which in turn pushed US futures solidly into the green. Ironically, while the China data was enough to give the US a solid green momentum it was not enough to give the China market a green close. Recall that this is the same data that forced Goldman to admit in January that "China is cooking the books"... the same data that prompted a Bank of America report analyzing the Chinese data to say the following: "One important question in investors' mind is whether we can trust the quality of these trade statistics because they seemed to be significantly distorted between October 2012 and April 2013.... we believe the quality of trade data was improved a lot. Using our adjustment method for fake trade..." Of course BofA "believes it", and it is only fitting: fake Chinese trade data to push the fake US stock market higher.

Even though the United States has the highest incarceration rate and the largest total prison population in the world by a very wide margin, hundreds of communities all over America are being overwhelmed by crime and violence.  For many years, violent crime had actually decreased in the United States, but now the trend is going the other way. The frightening thing is that crime statistics are going up even though police departments in some major cities have publicly announced that they will not even respond to certain crimes anymore. So what is causing the rise in crime and violence?  Well, we live at a time when economic opportunities for young people are extremely limited.  The younger you are, the more likely you are to be unemployed, and poverty in America has been steadily rising even in the midst of this so-called "economy recovery". When people are poor and feel like they are out of options, they tend to get desperate.  And desperate people do desperate things.

As Detroit begins to sort through the ill-begotten public liabilities that have driven it to bankruptcy, an important opportunity is at hand to revitalize the city that was once the epicenter of American entrepreneurship and manufacturing, while setting an example for other municipal governments that appear to be headed toward a similar fate. Here is an “Austrian moment” in the making, a potential libertarian awakening guided by the market-oriented, non-interventionist principles of the Austrian school of economics. For years, Detroit’s expenditures vastly exceeded its revenues. But, as long as investors were willing to purchase risky bonds, neither politicians nor unions would admit how unsustainable Detroit’s situation was. Detroit’s bankruptcy is thus exactly what the financial system needs.

The bankruptcy of Detroit, though long-anticipated, has unleashed a wave of speculation about the health of other cities in the U.S., and indeed, in the world - for example, China. Despite the visible importance of urban centers and cities for thousands of years, it seems our understanding of their dynamics is still incomplete. Nonetheless, the dramatic decline of Detroit and other industrial cities makes us wonder if there are dynamics that we can identify that could enable us to predict which cities will thrive and which will decay.

Goldman Sachs and the London Metal Exchange have had a case brought against them both in a court in the US regarding anti-competitive behavior in aluminum storage, with a monopolistic effect thrown in for good measure.