Exactly and in the private markets, it's normal that expected returns occasionally go negative. In nature, squirrels invest in a cache of nuts for the winter ev

Exactly and in the private markets, it's normal that expected returns occasionally go negative. In nature, squirrels invest in a cache of nuts for the winter even if they don't expect to get all of it back, otherwise they wouldn't survive. Here is Bernanke again, talking about -4% rates being around equilibrium during the financial crisis: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/ben-bernanke/2015/04/28/the-taylor-rule-a-benchmark-for-monetary-policy/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/ben-bernanke/2015/04/28/the-t... The fact that government has this floor at 0% that they won't go bellow means they are stuck at relatively high 0% rates when market rates for marginal return on capital go bellow zero. Having government paper returns above private markets' creates a huge gridlock in the private markets (and forces the government to stay at 0 longer). If they would just go negative to be more inline with the markets, they might achieve liftoff.