Why US Treasury Notes Will Eventually Yield Nothing

Barry M Ferguson / marketoracle.com,

For all investors seeking income, I have some bad news for you. US Treasury notes and bonds will eventually yield nothing. That’s right, I said it. “Zero percent interest coupons”. Many pundits would argue the opposite. And yes, the argument for higher interest coupons in the future is valid and sound. The US is currently following a strategy of debt destruction such that as I write, the nation is closing in on $13.5 trillion in debt. To see the number is quite startling. It is: $13,500,000,000,000.00. Mercy! The number is so large, most calculators can’t account for all the numeric placeholders. The number is so large, we now round up by hundred billions. The number is so large, the late astronomer, Carl Sagan, referred to really large numbers as “billions and billions”.

The good news is that there appears to be a limit. Zimbabwe wrote the book on trying to print their way out of economic dysfunction and eventually stopped printing with a z$100 trillion bill. As we all know, a printing press that never stops promotes inflation that eventually makes the printing press irrelevant. Not long after the introduction of the z$100 trillion, Zimbabwe thought about introducing the z$1 quadrillion bill. But, I suppose they reconsidered due to the idea that it would take too long to make change at the McDonald’s drive thru. Actually, by the time they got through destroying their economy, a z$1 quadrillion bill would not even buy a Big Mac! Have we not learned anything! (more)