It seems like only yesterday that Detroit filed for bankruptcy. It’s actually been more than two years since the initial filing, and almost a year since a judge approved the bankruptcy plan.

With the stroke of a pen, bond investors with a contractual claim on the city’s assets and revenue were swept away. This had to be done, we were told, to make room for the junior creditors, including pension funds covering unions, which eventually received almost 100% of what they were owed.

The Detroit bankruptcy made a mockery of the law, arbitrarily assigning assets and creating ownership claims where none existed. Claiming that the value of the Detroit Art Museum could be used for pensions but not for bondholders wasn’t a stretch – it was dishonest. If the museum was owned by the city, then the proceeds from its sale should’ve gone into the pot for all creditors. Period.

Apparently that doesn’t happen in a municipal bankruptcy, where judges seem to decide based on something other than the law.

But the Detroit bankruptcy did have one great thing going for it – timing. The U.S. economy stalled then accelerated in both 2013 and 2014, while the equity markets climbed higher. China was still a juggernaut and Europe seemed to have steadied itself, at least for a little while.

Now, all of that’s behind us.

At a time when things seem bleak, we’re due for another round of bankruptcies in well-known areas. Only this time, the economy and markets won’t provide any cushion.

Global markets are moving lower in a stair-step fashion, with big drops followed by small rallies. Chinese economic reports are disappointing, and are probably overly optimistic, while Europe deals with its own set of difficult issues including mass migration from Syria.

At home we’ve been able to post modestly positive economic numbers, but our markets have joined the rest of the world. It’s as if investors finally looked behind the curtain of the economy, saw the members of the Fed, and weren’t impressed.