Bonds are not forever : the crisis facing fixed income investors

 Content: Preface xi  Acknowledgments xiii   CHAPTER 1 From High School to Wall Street--The Bull Market Begins 1   Inflation Memories  As Bad as It Gets 4  Trading in Gilts 5  The Old Class Structure 8  A Nineteenth-Century Market 11  Finance Starts to Grow 12  Is Finance Good? 16  Investing after the Bubble 20   CHAPTER 2 A Brief History of Debt 23   Interest Rates in Ancient Times 23  Medieval Credit 26  The Beginnings of Modern-Day Finance 28  Borrowing Reaches the Mass Market 31  Student Debt 39  Big Borrowers in History 43  What We Owe Now 45   CHAPTER 3 Derivatives Growth 51   Welcome to New York 52  Early Derivatives Growth 56  Swaps Take Off 61  Size Isn\'t Everything 65  Derivatives Reach Omaha 67  Norwegian Wood 69   CHAPTER 4 Bond Market Inefficiencies for Retail 73   A Simple Market Model  Stocks Are Fairer than Bonds 76  Why Change Is Slow 79  Structured Notes 81  The Internet Threatens the Swaps Oligopoly 84  Municipal Bonds 87   CHAPTER 5 Trading Derivatives 93   Before Banks Were Exciting Computers and Swaps 96  Should Banks Innovate? 97  Growth in Innovation 99  Volcker\'s Problem 102  Bring Me Clients with a Problem 103  Derivatives Missteps 105  Trading by the Book 107  An Options Book Blows Up 110   CHAPTER 6 Politics 115   Government-Controlled Investing Why Should We Worry? 116  Who Says There Is a Problem? 120  Look to the Future 128  Looking Ahead 129  Monetization--A Thought Experiment 133  Imperial Overstretch 136  More Debt Means More Banking 141   CHAPTER 7 Managing Risk 1990--1998 143   Risk-Oriented Market Making  Traders and Risk 145  Why Traders Are Bad at Budgeting 147  The Growth of Global Trading 149  Managing Obscure Basic Risks 152  What\'s the Social Purpose? 155  Wall Street Fuels the Debt Growth 156   CHAPTER 8 Inflation 165   Germany\'s Defining Economic Experience 167  Inflation Today 170  The Fed\'s Huge Mistake 174  You Can\'t Spend Quality Improvements 177  What Critics Say 181  Measuring What They Can, Not What Counts 183   CHAPTER 9 Bonds Are Not Forever 189   Putting It All Together  Wall Street Built It 192  Make Your Own Bond 195  High Dividend, Low Beta 198  Hedged Dividend Capture 201  Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) 202  Deep Value Equities 205  Debt Is Bad 205  Bonds Are Not Forever 207  References 209  Glossary 215  About the Author 219  Index 221