[tdees40]

The language in this is a bit silly:

"Nowhere is that more evident than in the U.S., where lending to the government should be far safer than speculating on the direction of interest rates with Wall Street banks."

You aren't "speculating on the direction of interest rates with Wall Street banks", you're buying a synthetic rates position that is centrally cleared with daily variation margin. That's not quite US Treasury safe, but it's pretty damn safe.