Remember when banks paid interest?

Fuck socialized medicine. Socialize banking, we're taking all the risks anyway.

Yep, and also when you HAD to go to the bank on Fridays to take money out for the week because there were no ATMs.

It wasn't long ago I was getting 5% on FDIC-insured savings. Those were the days.

why save money when there's no way to make interest on it?

The inability of savers to earn interest was a major contributor to the housing and credit bubble. The Federal Reserve abetted this hidden tax on savers.

The irony is that personally, I would be much more inclined to spend some dollars in today's crappy environment if I knew my saving was actually generating SOMETHING materially positive. So because interest rates are low, I am spending less and would probably part with a few more dollars if interest rates were high.

Maybe one day the Fed will need this kind of mentality (accommodating savers) to kickstart the economy - lowering interest rates to accommodate "spenders" only goes so far (unless they want to start offering negative interest rates.....)

My first savings account at Mellon Bank paid -- believe it or not -- 8.25%. On a "passbook" savings account!

No risk, no return.

Keep in mind, though, that year-over-year inflation is now -1.3%.

If you actually want some return on your "savings" consider Vanguard's Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Fund with a 5.46% yield. Price risk is modest. Vanguard has the lowest expense ratios in the industry. They also tend to be pretty conservative in their overall strategy.

Don't like paying taxes, consider their Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt fund with a 3.46% yield. (Their New York Tax-Exempt fund has a higher yield - but also higher price risk.)