Business: Bye Bye Bad Buy

Inflation kills the $25 bond

The $25 U.S. savings bond was pronounced dead last week, slipping away to join such other relics of the pre-inflationary past as the 5¢ candy bar and the two-bit shoeshine. The bonds will continue to be sold through Dec. 31, 1979, after which they will be replaced by a costlier series that will pay the same 6% but have a much longer maturity. The old issue sold for $18.75 and paid $25 in five years; the new one will cost $25 but pay off $50 in eleven years and nine months.

It was in May 1941, when Hitler...

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