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Long time motteizen, new pseudonym for extra privacy.
Some friends and I are launching a new anonymous group blog: https://www.theprotocols.net/ Many of us have interesting culture-war related takes that we post on forums like these, or on our group chats, but we felt like we needed a place to more permanently publish things that deserved a wider audience. Subscribe via ye olde email or RSS to see posts as they come out.
Our first post is "Regulated Banks Are Just Stealing Your Money Slowly". Here is the TLDR:
Myself (and the author of the post through this account) will be happy to answer any questions or respond to comments about this post.
Also, we are open to publishing guest blog posts if you have something you need to get off your chest and want to publish anonymously to the web. You can DM me here or email the contact address on the web site. Cheers!
EDIT: Looks like I did a really poor job of making a TLDR for the original post. I've added a bit more context, but I advise clicking through and reading the whole thing before leaving a comment.
This seems to imply that banks want high inflation. But the opposite is true; because banks make money by making loans, and because high inflation means that loans are paid back in less valuable dollars, banks want inflation to be low. Hence, it is not surprising that the Fed, which represents banks, prioritizes keeping inflation low over keeping unemployment low, and why debtors have historically advocated for inflationary policies.
Moreover, the assumption that, because my savings are worth less because of inflation, that therefore someone has "stolen" money from me does not work. I have only two options re what to do with my money; 1) I can spend it; or 2) I can save it. If I choose to save it, then I have many options, but they are of two general categories: a) High risk / high return; and b) low risk / low return. Federally insured bank accounts are at the far end of the low risk spectrum (just above burying it in my backyard), so of course those accounts pay low interest. That isn't theft; it is reality. Calling that theft is like complaining that gravity is stealing my water when it flows down the drain.
The TLDR cut out the more full explanation that is not actually the bank itself that is benefiting from the theft-via-dilution. Who benefits is a fiendishly difficult question:
Dilution is theft. If the board of a company secretly prints new shares and gives it to their friends that is theft.
Our put is that option b) is actually low risk negative return and that this is a big problem.
I don’t see why it matters that it is a negative return. That is the price I pay for, among other things, insurance on my deposits. And, banks are very clear on how much interest they pay on their various accounts, and it is completely obvious how that compares to the inflation rate. If I don’t like those term, I am free to put my money elsewhere. Nor is that at all analogous to a board secretly and fraudulently diluting the value of company shares.
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