Just checked.  Not low, negative 1-2! and 5yrs is the shortest term.  They can be sold, but the price varies. Should interest rates rise due to inflation, the par value will tank.  Of course if the Fed should drop the rate to 1% or 0% the par would go up, but these are dollar bonds and the dollar would further tank. Five years is a long time to bet on energy inflation remaining low.  Seems I would have to credit our societies with far more collective intelligence than they  have demonstrated in the last 40 years.  Euro denominated government bonds?  Are they even available in inflation protected flavors? What ever looks safe to someone in my position has probably already been moved into by so many others that it is no longer a value.  I am probably doomed to take a hit no matter what I do.  I suspect I will have plenty of company, and not just in the US.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."