> Today, there's about $20 trillion in the global government bond market that actually has a negative yield, which means the borrower gets paid to borrow. Not

> Today, there's about $20 trillion in the global government bond market that actually has a negative yield, which means the borrower gets paid to borrow. Not really. The yields are negative, but the coupon rates are positive. Most of those were initially sold with a positive rate, then went negative as buyers bid up the prices. The issuing governments don't get that appreciation, and are still obligated to pay the coupon rate. If the yield is positive at auction, the borrower is still paying to borrow the money. The only way the "borrower gets paid to borrow" is if the initial auction sees bonds sell at negative yields. That's quite possible when coupon yields are 0.100% or less (which has been common in Europe and Japan lately).