It has long been an article of faith that the only risk-free investment was Treasury securities. The 30-year (or 10-year) was the risk-free rate against which all other yields were compared. But the credit crisis has dented that faith. Reuters notes that cost of insurance against Treasury debt default has risen to 60 basis points, up from about 15 basis points in August and 0.6 basis points in January of 2007. This compares with a 50 basis point cost for German or Japanese debt. No, we shouldn't blow this out of proportion. There's a good deal of speculation built into CDS prices, but the government is getting a bit extended.

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