Read in the Washington Post that The Treasury auctioned inflation-protected bonds at a negative 0.55 percent Monday, the first time the government has sold bonds at a negative yield.
Here -> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/25/AR2010102504347.html
I am no economist so this doesn't make sense to me.
Does this really mean that people buy bonds which will promise something less than the face amount? Is it like taking a loan of 100,000 guaranteeing that repayment would be something less than that?
Hope Tim Hartford or Steven Levitt can explain to lay people like me. Or can you, please?
Oct 27, 2010 - An Update
On a whim, I had mailed Steven Levitt. And got a prompt reply:
"These bonds are inflation adjusted. So if inflation is 10% and you have a $100 bond, then you get back $109.45. still better than having pure cash. If,on the other hand, inflation is zero, then you wish you had cash."
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Service for free!
A few months ago my hotmail account was hacked. I found so many spam in my sent box (apart from the spam, I send). I was embarrased at the content being sent using my name but couldn't think of a way out. Then a month ago, I couldn't log-in to my mail. It looked like the spammer had changed the password. I resigned myself to losing that account.
Then on a lazy day, I went through the whole gamut of links strewn on the msn page. I found out that even if you have lost your password without any back-up mail ID & questions that only you would know the answer of, still you can get your account back.
I filled up a questionnaire on my account, the answers being proof of my ownership. A temporary link was given (like a blog) where interactive help was available, though not real time. My answers got verified by somebody in techsupport and they allowed me access to my hot mail account again after a couple of days.
I couldn't believe MS has techsupport to that extent, for Hotmail. After all, it's a free email service. Hotmail was my first email account. Those days, it came with a 2 MB free storage and you have to pay for anything extra. Before the days of Gmail! I am happy to get back my first mail ID.
Ofcourse, it's not all altruism on Microsoft's part. Still Big brother does some good things too!
Then on a lazy day, I went through the whole gamut of links strewn on the msn page. I found out that even if you have lost your password without any back-up mail ID & questions that only you would know the answer of, still you can get your account back.
I filled up a questionnaire on my account, the answers being proof of my ownership. A temporary link was given (like a blog) where interactive help was available, though not real time. My answers got verified by somebody in techsupport and they allowed me access to my hot mail account again after a couple of days.
I couldn't believe MS has techsupport to that extent, for Hotmail. After all, it's a free email service. Hotmail was my first email account. Those days, it came with a 2 MB free storage and you have to pay for anything extra. Before the days of Gmail! I am happy to get back my first mail ID.
Ofcourse, it's not all altruism on Microsoft's part. Still Big brother does some good things too!
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