To be sure, we're talking about German bonds here... Germany's social expenditure as %age of GDP has been going down steadily since the crisis, in contrast to the majority of other countries across the world.
The sky is falling http://www.marketwatch.com/story/austria-sells-bonds-at-negative-yield-2015-03-03-81035718?rss=1
Thanks for the link. Why would anyone buy the bond in leiu of keeping cash in a bank account? Is this bond perceived as safer than the bank? Or is it some market mechanism (like its impractical to actually keep cash under your mattress.)
Correct, a bond has value as collateral... You can't practically use cash under your mattress (or in a vault or in a truck or whatever) in the same manner. Moreover, new regulation designed to improve the stability of funding of the banking system also means that, if you're, say, a large corporate, banks don't want your deposit, since it's costly.
Martin, Zero Hedges penchant for sensationalism aside, what do you think of the affects of bail in's filtering through the financial system. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-...a-eu-bondholders-today-us-depositors-tomorrow
I think bail-ins are great and healthy... Moreover, they are not "new news", so to speak. Denmark did the original, shocking one in 2011 with Amagerbanken. There have been ongoing discussions about these in 2013 in other places, e.g. New Zealand. The subsequent random bullsh1t conclusions that ZH arrives at are another matter altogether.