...why no one talks about the Long Bond any more. Turns out I missed the killing of it -- it's gone, and it's not coming back.
You have no idea what I'm talking about, right? The "Long Bond" is a 30-year U.S. Treasury bond that has provided an excellent benchmark for long term interest rates. The only realistic one, actually. In addition, the timing of this death seems to be quite careless on the part of the Treasury:
Our goofy Treasury, once again defying all logic, decided to throw away the opportunity to lock in multi-decade low interest rates for decades into the future. An enormous source of cheap long-term financing was scattered to the winds.
It was killed under the Bush Administration, last Halloween. This essay explains what the Long Bond was, how important it was to some traders and speculates on why it was discontinued. It's much more interesting than one would imagine, and though this gentleman is a bit zealous in his argument (though we can't say he didn't warn us), he's still rational and realistic.
It's worth reading, if interest rate movements are, well, interesting to you.
Posted by nicole at October 23, 2002 09:25 AMquestion regarding a backpacking adventure you took, I was looking at the pic from Loudoun Heights and was wondering how much of a hike is it to get to that overlook where you took the picture from the nearest road where I can park. I'm going to the Harper's Ferry area this weekend to take photos with a friend but he can't do a couple mile hike. I almost need to find a nice photo op overlook within a mile or so from a place we can park. If you happen to know, I appreciate it. Thanks much. Now, I'll peruse your site some more.
Posted by wayne at October 24, 2002 04:43 PM