April 16, 2011
The NYT contrasted the situation of the United Kingdom when it sells its debt to the United States:
“In that sense, comparing the British and American deficit-cutting plans becomes a bit more difficult. In Europe the bond market is the ultimate judge of deficit-reduction plans. In the United States, by contrast, the global demand for , and the benefits of the Federal Reserve Board’s easy-money “” policy, have kept 10-year bond yields well below those of Britain.”
Let’s see, the bond market determines interest rates for British debt and who exactly is determining the interest rate on U.S. debt, “global demand?” In both cases the bond market determines interest rates, although the exact set of factors will differ. It is interesting that the interest rates on U.K. and U.S. debt is almost exactly the same at the moment, which suggests that the markets view them as equally risky.
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