> You're confusing the yield at market rates with the interest paid by the borrower This is true when you're talking about trading a bond in the secondary mark

> You're confusing the yield at market rates with the interest paid by the borrower This is true when you're talking about trading a bond in the secondary market. But for primary sales (i.e. Treasury auctions for brand-new bonds that didn't exist before), the debtor (Treasury's) effective IR is a function of the sale price.