Bonds will perform horribly over the next period as interest rates rise, bond prices will fall. What I think is interesting, is that some are essentially giving the US Federal reserve credit for the world economy. The US fed keeping rates low will help the rest of the world, and the saying that, so goes the US, so goes the world, is pretty true. No other country, or set of countries like the EU, has the size or might to bring about a global recovery. If we go down, the world goes down and the Fed knows it. Better the small pain of a little inflation than the catastrophic pain of a global recession/deflationairy depression.