Puny German bond yields are fortunate for Irish taxpayers

The news isn’t all good, as the eurozone banking system and pension pots will suffer as a result of the ‘bund’ nosedive

German economy shrank in second quarter

In late March, German ten-year bonds, known as bunds, printed at negative yields. In practice this means that investors in German bonds are knowingly investing at prices where they are guaranteed to lose money.

The corollary of this is that the German government and the German taxpayer are being subsidised to borrow by the money markets. Imagine if your bank literally paid you interest on your mortgage every month, and you will get ...