Washington ? The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond is coming back.

To many, that is good news. But, in a way, it is also bad news.

It is good because it will help the U.S. government finance its huge deficit and debt at longer terms, even as the Baby Boom prepares to retire. It is good because it would offer investors, such as big pension funds and insurance companies in particular, a safe, longer-run option in which to park their large portfolios.

It is bad because it means that there is a much bigger deficit, and debt, to finance even as the Baby Boom prepares to retire.

It signals what most Americans know already. The nation’s financial condition has worsened dramatically in a few years, and there is a need for a longer-term debt security that the government could issue to bring more certainty to its debt management.

When the U.S. Treasury Department announced Wednesday it would resume offering the 30-year “long” bond again next year, it wasn’t much of a surprise to the financial markets. The government had signaled this policy change some time ago.

The 30-year bond at one time was considered an important, closely watched benchmark for gauging inflation expectations in financial markets. When interest rates on these tradeable bonds went up, it meant to policymakers in Washington that inflation was on the rise.

With the re-issuance next year, the effect on long-term interest rates isn’t expected to be dramatic, if there is any impact at all, economists said.

It’s a good time for the Treasury to resume the long bond, analysts said, since long-term interest rates are currently so low – with the 30-year bond fetching about 4.5 percent in financial markets.

The Treasury, which borrows money to finance the annual deficit and the government’s mounting debt, said that from $20 billion to $30 billion in 30-year bonds would be offered each year.

The government stopped selling the long bond in October 2001, when there were few worries about the deficit.