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Notes -
Then why don’t they just invest in lumber or whichever product you find that a savings account has underperformed?
Money is a fake thing. There’s nothing stopping people from investing in real things. Banks can’t make money borrowing at rates that are above their returns.
The globe is aging which means theirs more people that want spending power in decades and fewer people who want to spend today. This causes rates to fall.
People can buy gold or oil and pay storage costs. No one is forced to to invest in cash. Everyone can invest in real things to avoid your issues with negative returns in cash. In fact I have negative cash positions.
The issue your presenting is more people want risk less high return assets than people who provide high return low risks investments. And the banking system can’t create an asset that doesn’t exists in the real world.
But again the fed doesn’t set the nominal interest rate for more than a few months. If they tried to set it too high then borrowers would quit borrowing and banks would reject deposits due to lack of investment options.
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