Can or will negative interest rates happen in the United States?

[Gene Hacker]

I am trying to wrap my head around negative interest rates. Who buys bonds with negative interest rates?  Are they 100% monetized?  

Could this be a trend that is coming to the USA?

[Bob Houston]

Please know, no bank is every going to "pay you" to take out a loan - no matter how negative interest rates could go. Negative interest rates are an articulation of an economy slowing collapsing. Institutions (lenders) can live with negative interest rates for a certain amount of time - but must eventually come out. An institutional investor will park itself in sovereign negative interest rate debt with the idea that there may be a capital gain if interest rates sink even lower. Bottom line - a negative interest rate environment mean economic demand destruction / deflation / high unemployment / negative GDP. Everybody talks "V" shape recovery - but the yield on the U.S. 10 year note at .60bp tells the true picture... The economy is in dire straits.