About a year ago, I was meeting a client at a restaurant in Marina Del Rey, California. The traffic had been mild by Los Angeles County standards, so I arrived in the area early. I stopped in a local coffee shop and sat down in a booth. Lo and behold, in the booth next to me, Jerry Seinfeld had been interviewing Jim Carrey for a “webisode” of the popular online show, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.

The reason that I bring this up? I began my financial services pursuits in the the second half of the 1980s, when songs and shows about “nothing” seemed to have their biggest impact. For instance, in November of 1987, British rock artist Billy Idol scored a top Billboard hit with a live remake of “Mony Mony.” The original writer of the song acknowledged that he got the title from Mutual Life Insurance of New York's acronym (MONY), though the acronym in the song lacked any actual meaning. Similarly, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld set out in the late 80s to create a show about nothing. “Seinfeld” later became one of the most iconic sitcoms in television history.

Interestingly enough, investors on Monday (10/5) bought $21 billion in three-month Treasury bills at a yield of 0%, the lowest yield at a three-month Treasury auction ever recorded. The lowest yield ever! And there was healthy demand for the 0% return because the bid-to-cover ratio was the highest since late June. Strong demand for “nothing.”

If someone had told me in the 80s that 3-month T-bills would someday yield 0%, I might have doubled over in hysterics. I was used to seeing anywhere between 5% and 7%. Who would be interested in 0%?

Nevertheless, this is the world that has been created by a federal reserve that has waffled on leaving the zero-bound on its overnight lending rate, even after seven years. What's more, the voracious appetite for nothing beyond the preservation of capital suggests that few believe the Fed will raise rates at all in 2015.