what are treasury bonds 
the u s government issues treasury bonds to raise capital to fund the government they come in maturities of 20 or 30 years the government also issues treasury bills which have maturities ranging from a few days to 52 weeks and treasury notes which have maturities of two three five seven or 10 years all are debt instruments the bottom linedebt instruments are any form of debt used to raise capital for businesses and governments there are many types of debt instruments but the most common are credit products bonds or loans each comes with different repayment conditions generally described in a contract 