Return-free risk illustrated

I'm going to steal Jim Grant's notion, which he took from someone he knew, of return-free risk. For those that don't get the humour, that's a play on the words 'risk-free return'. Yes, in a scenario unthinkable 6 months ago when commodity inflation looked to engulf the world, the US Treasury just issued $32 billion of 1 month bills with a yield of 0%:

The [bond] market reached the highs of the day after the Treasury Department sold $32 billion in four-week bills at a yield of 0%.


US taxpayers 1, Bond investors 0. Or at least that's what the score in my book says.

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