Why do so many IRAs push 60% equity and 40% bonds? Is a CD better than a bond?

I've been sitting in cash waiting on this rumored correction and feel like it is coming. But afterward I want to get into a balanced portfolio that I design and manage. I'm looking at bonds like LQD and JNK as well as TLT and other shorter treasuries and it seems to me that CDs and money markets pound bonds into the ground. Why give up FDIC protection and no risk of principal to make less than bonds pay? I see yields of 0.5% a month which is lower than most money markets and bonds. Maybe I just don't understand bonds but every time I've looked I come away thinking bonds are worthless, and I should put my money into CD ladders and money markets and not any in bonds, whether it is corp junk, corp investment grade, US treasuries, or any type of bond. So I'm considering 10% into Gold (GLD), 40% in CD ladders and the rest in a money market. I'm 60 years old and given all that is wrong wiith me, I won't be alive in 20 years and 10 years isn't a likely thing either. The bottom line is how can bonds be better when they pay less dividents than money markets or CDs, no matter what? I lived in Ecuador and they paid 10% for a 1 year CD of at least $10,000. Name a bond fund to beat my Ecuador bank CD rate?