If they didn't, people would always hold cash instead. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Also, you have proven by example that the amount of information and sophistication necessary to do "safe bond investment" properly probably exceeds that of your average widow or orphan :P
I mean, it did exceed that of the average bond portfolio mutual fund manager, to judge by the fallout from the recent crisis... En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma