The 10 year Treasury yield hit 5% yesterday – the highest interest rate in three years.

But the chart below shows interest rates on government bonds are rising in almost all developed countries.

There are lots of interpretations to this spike in interest charges for government debt – including rising real returns on assets and, of course, high oil prices. Perhaps it’s financial traders screaming out to politicians to stop spending and borrowing so much. The long term trend toward higher government borrowing costs first began during the COVID government spending spree and interest rates haven’t come down since.