The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, July 13, edition that low interest rates are likely here for a long while. The Globe's Ian McGugan writes that while nobody can confidently predict what the economy will look like years from now, there are several reasons to brace for the possibility that low rates will be with us for a long time to come. Mr. McGugan says investors should prepare for the consequences. A low-rate world is one where it hardly pays to own bonds and where market bubbles will be a common occurrence. Many people think that today's microscopic borrowing costs are the result of central bank whims. It is common to hear people assert that policy makers could boost rates tomorrow if they just wanted. This is true only in a very limited sense. Central banks usually exert direct control only over short-term rates. They deal in "nominal" terms, that is to say, rates with inflation included. Central banks normally have little say in the rates that matter most -- the borrowing costs, in after-inflation or "real" terms, for loans that span several years. Those rates are set by debt markets that reflect the independent buying and selling decisions of millions of people.