Rana Foroohar

摘要

Remember The Good Old Days you know, before 2008? Spirits were high, politics was less fraught, and making money was easy. We all know how that ended. Today, investors wouldn't dream of expecting double-digit returns; they just crave a safe haven-someplace to stow whatever assets and sanity they have left while they fret about the euro-zone crisis, the U.S. elections and fiscal cliff and a potential global double-dip recession. Trouble is, the panicky flight to safety is creating a new kind of bubble, this time in the U.S. bond markets. The supply of safe assets, which historically meant AAA-rated government bonds, mortgage-backed securities and gold, has been declining precipitously over the past few years. Forget about Fannie and Freddie's laughable mortgage bonds, gold is 14% off its peak and fading, and the downgrading of rich-country debt since 2007 has been even worse.