If the specter of near-term deflation in the U.S. materializes, then TIPS, or Treasury inflation-protected securities, and other inflation-linked bonds from countries grappling with deflationary pressures, could wind up losing value. Although bonds were appealing to investors in August, another BlackRock inflation-linked product, the iShares Barclays TIPS Bond ETF (NYSEArca:TIP), actually had outflows of $332.8 million. Currently, the index consists of 167 issues from 17 developed and emerging economies:Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S.