It is our contention that long before we ever get to that point (say 2020), the bond market will revolt, interest rates will rise, and the results will be very unpleasant. And that’s for the United States. As we will see later in the book, without some serious intervention, that unpleasant ending could happen to a host of countries in the developed

financial intermediaries – such as banks and funds

Sir Jon Cunliffe, the widely respected deputy governor of the Bank of England, once commented to me that, every several generations, society re-asks the question: “What is money?” He thinks this latest Internet wave is prompting society to ask that question once again.

In the words of Bill Gross, who runs the world’s largest bond fund at the Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), ‘bond markets have power because they’re the fundamental base for all markets. The cost of credit, the interest rate [on a benchmark bond], ultimately determines the value of stocks, homes, all asset classes.’