http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/money/375215_mutual16.htmlThis is staggeringly bad advice--that is, to buy bonds (preferably long-dated ones), and especially municipal bonds (bonds representing the borrowing of states, counties, cities, etc).
The reason is that interest rates are too low. Bonds are "certificates of guaranteed confiscation". Furthermore, municipal bonds are EXTREMELY RISKY as many municipalities issuing them are probably teetering on insolvency. Vallejo California has already declared bankruptcy, but I expect bigger cities and counties to follow suite before this is over. The whole state of California is essentially in a crisis.
It appears that European holdings of $US have increased significantly lately. James Turk noticed and called it a "currency intervention". I would guess that it was orchestrated along with a PR ("public relations"--a euphemism for commercial propaganda) job to promote $US denominated debt, to save the bond market. The media is dutifully publishing it just like they publish most government PR without question or hesitation.
