Which is why i think that describing the yield curve in terms of rates of bonds running from now until some date in the future (which is what we do when we talk about raw treasury rates, or zero-coupon bond rates, another common form) is really unhelpful, because it disguises this structure.

We should instead talk about it in terms of expected instantaneous, or at least short-term, forward rates. For example, what is the expected rate for a three-month T-bill starting 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 years from now?