Larry Summers Wonders Why Governments Don't Take Advantage of Negative Interest Rates

Larry Summers shows that some governments (US, UK, Germany, Japan) can sell long term bonds that are close to negative real interest rates.  If they are worried about a future loss of investor confidence, that might cause interest rates to rise,  they should lock in the low rates now.  Its hard to imagine government investments in infrastructure and innovation that would not produce at least a 1% return on investment.

Economist's assume that investments that produce a rate of  return that is greater than the cost of borrowing are good investments.  There is no better time than the present for governments to invest in the future.  There is no need for central banks to lower interest rates even further with quantitative easing.  Its a good time for fiscal policy.