Billionaire Paul Singer Says It’s ‘Quite Nutty’ to Hold Government Debt

Paul Singer, the billionaire founder of Elliott Management Corp., said government policy has encouraged traders to take massive concentrated positions in “fantastically” overpriced markets and that the government bonds of developed countries are at unsustainably high prices.

“Today’s trading levels of stocks and bonds reflect ‘thumb on the scale’ valuations driven by persistent and massive government asset purchases and zero percent (or lower!) short-term policy rates, as well as an essentially unlimited tolerance for risk,” Elliott wrote in the firm’s fourth-quarter letter dated Jan. 30, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.