Mike Whitney, Counterpunch 11-13 Oct: "Absent a debt ceiling deal, the repurchase market–known as repo–would undergo another deep-freeze as it did in 2008 when Lehman Brothers defaulted..." "...The same tragedy will play out again, if congress fails lift the ceiling and reinforce the present value of US debt." "Repo is at the heart of the shadow banking system, that opaque off-balance sheet underworld where maturity transformation and other risky banking activities take place beyond the watchful eye of government regulators." "Keep in mind, the US government does not have to default on its debt to trigger a panic in the credit markets. Changing expectations can easily produce the same result... when people start to doubt that US Treasuries will be liquid cash equivalents in the future" "This is what the Fidelity flap is all about. It’s about the erosion of confidence in US debt."