Neg rate T-bills coming?

[murphy_p_t]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/supercomm ... ield-bonds

[moda0306]

TLT Rocket: ENGAGE!

[melveyr]

I kind of hope this happens. I just love when basically everyone is proven wrong about the bond market

[moda0306]

I kind of hope this happens. I just love when basically everyone is proven wrong about the bond market

+1

[atrchi]

What could be the unintended consequences?

Will large investors get squeezed out of T-Bills and into commercial money market funds, driving those rates negative too?

Will Apple have to start paying negative interest on its $97B cash stash?

Will the Treasury start booking a profit on the $15T national debt?

Will there be bank runs with depositors demanding paper cash when their checking/savings yields go negative?

And most importantly, where do *I* sign-up for a negative-interest loan?

[Gumby]

From mid-1932 through mid-1942, the vast majority of coupon-bearing U.S. government securities bore negative nominal yields as they neared maturity. Treasury bonds with less than a year to maturity reached a magnitude as low as -1.7%.

And of course, Japan had negative interest rates over a decade ago...
http://money.cnn.com/1998/11/06/economy/japan_bank/

[Gosso]

Would it also be easier to create negative nominal interest rates if cash and coins were eliminated?  Would this even be desirable?  Here is an interesting interview and article with the author of "The End of Money":

"The End of Money" also chronicles Wolman's trip around the world to meet figures who are leading the way to a cash-free civilization in the years to come.

In Sweden, for example, the country's public buses will no longer accept cash. Tickets must be prepaid or purchased by commuters with a cellphone text message.  A growing number of Swedish businesses and banks have also stopped accepting cash.  The Royal Canadian Mint is also looking to the future with the MintChip, a new product that could become a digital replacement for coins.  Such evolution seems natural to Wolman, who voices his distaste for traditional currency throughout "The End of Money."  From start to finish, Wolman takes aim at the heavy eco-costs of mining and the pollutants created while producing legal tenders.

Wolman also highlights the health hazards of money.  "Money may be a marvelous technology, enabling life as we know it,'' he writes. "But no grandiose talk will change its microbe-infested reality.''

Wolman also makes the connection between traditional currency and criminal activities over the decades such as counterfeiting, drug trading and terrorism.

I'll admit that I almost never use cash, but I do like to know that it is there in case I need it.