While these funds aim to avoid reductions in net asset values, this objective may not be attainable if rates in the market are negative for a considerable period of time, prompting large outflows and closures and reducing liquidity in a key segment of the financial system.
The only time in U.S. history that the debt-to-GDP ratio has been in the neighborhood of 100 percent was during World War II. People at that time understood the situation to be temporary and expected deficits and the debt-to-GDP ratio to fall rapidly after the war, as in fact they did.