iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (ET (AMEX:TLT)

starbucks4ever (99.57) Submitted: 9/23/2011 9:23:32 AM : Start Price: $120.63 TLT Score: -15.54

Imaginary issue of WSJ from Aug 12, 2012:"Bond prices rose to par, and yields dropped to zero as the US announced default on all its bonds. "All the bonds currently circulating in the market are null and void" - said the Treasury Department communique released before markets opened. "Bondholders will not be repaid the interest and the principal on any of the bonds, ever."As the stock market collapsed, investors sold mutual funds and put the money in treasury bonds. One bond investor staying the course is Warren Buffett. In an interview aired on CNBC in the morning, Buffett said the bonds were as safe as ever. "In my mind, US bonds still deserve an AAA rating. If I could, I would even give them the fourth A" - he said. "The payments on these bonds are not safe. But the bonds are."Bill Gross of PIMCO said his firm would continue to invest in Treasuries despite their zero yield and the assured loss of the principal. "You have to put you money to work somewhere" - he explained. "Investment is about safety, not about preservation of the principal. And with so much uncertainty in equity markets, you want to invest your money in a safe instrument such as US bonds." Nobel Prize wining economist Paul Krugman said the US government had a chance to solve its long-standing deficit problem by selling more of zero-principal, negative-interest bonds to the eager investors. "The US default has triggered another invisible attack by the invisible bond vigilantes" - he commented sarcastically as the 10-year bond yield on the chart went under the zero baseline. "And right now, with the 10-year rate at 0% —0%! — the market is basically signaling that it doesn’t care a bit about the yield or about the principal, but that it’s terrified about growth prospects."