We may quibble that those are anything but riskless assets for the banks, but what national bank regulators are going to downgrade and mark down their own sovereign debt to fail their own banks?

FORBES: Fighting Debt with Debt

In fact, optimists pointed out, so long as equities are held for the long term, they can be safer investments than supposedly riskless assets such as government bonds, whose value can be wiped out by inflation.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus: How far is down? | The

People perceive these as risks rather than opportunities, which cause some to engage in self-destructive behavior by buying overvalued supposed riskless assets, such as US Treasuries, and selling incredibly profitable, yet highly discounted dividend paying blue chip stocks, which provide safety and income at bargain prices.

FORBES: Opportunity Knocks