Interest rates are so low that Germans are paying to keep money in banks

[crimethink]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11210057/Interest-rates-are-so-low-that-Germans-are-paying-to-keep-money-in-banks.html

[Hatha Sunahara]

Logic would dictate that lenders should br paying people to borrow money. Banks ahould be paying people to take out loans. but logic doesn't work any more, does it?

[singular_me]

Hello Hatha... Silvio Gesell, a monetary scientist, had designed a system against hoarding penalizing hoarders with negative interests , so according to the theory, money would circulate. I have been pondering this several times and in my view it cannot work because the elites would funnel/launder their wealth between themselves. Back to square one... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Gesell


but thats a philosophical issue, hoarding makes one at the mercy of those who want more or dont have enough. While hoarding is understandable, beyond a certain point it becomes unethical. The question is "how much do we actually need to feel secure"?

[Ponce]

Singular, depending what kind of life you live.......me? I am happy with my $1,200 a months from my SS.......have everything that I want debt free and save $500.00 a month from my check.....just to have $20,000 a year coming in from elsewhere but that is now gone.......but.......because I knew that someday it would be gone I GOT READY FOR IT......and is the same way that I am ready for what is to come. " Live for today, but think of tomorrow"... Ponce

V

[crimethink]

On the bright side, the name of the bank is pretty honest: it can be translated as German Shit Bank.

[Hatha Sunahara]

On the bright side, the name of the bank is pretty honest: it can be translated as German Shit Bank.

That would be more accurate if it were a Greek bank with a greek name SkatBank .Scatology comes from the root Greek word Skata, meaning shit in Greek. Scheissbank would be the same thing in German.We are going to see how intelligent our European bretheren are by how long it takes for banks that introduce negative inteest ratess for savers to lose their deposits. I'd bet the smarter Europeans think Americans who maintain checking accounts with banks like Chase that charge them $25 a month for that service are pretty stupid for maintaining those accounts.

Hatha

[Hatha Sunahara]

Negative interest rates make no sense. Why would anyone pay a bank to hold his money? It would be smarter to buy and hold gold instead of putting money in the bank and paying the bank to keep it for you. At least if you put your gold under your mattress, it wouldn't lose its value, and it wouldn't cost you anything to keep it. Negative interest rates are for dummies. They should be a positive influence for rising gold prices, but most people in most countries are so stupid that it doesn't play out like that--particularly in Europe. Negative interest should drive up the price of gold.

Hatha

[Cebu_4_2]

Negative interest rates make no sense. Why would anyone pay a bank to hold his money? It would be smarter to buy and hold gold instead of putting money in the bank and paying the bank to keep it for you. At least if you put your gold under your mattress, it wouldn't lose its value
Hatha

If someone broke in and took all your gold you would probably think $25 a month is cheap. You could buy a safe and bolt it to the concrete which would help but take quite a few monthly payments to pay for. I don't keep any money in the bank but it does offer some protection unless they decide to take all your digits.

[osoab]

Negative interest rates make no sense. Why would anyone pay a bank to hold his money? It would be smarter to buy and hold gold instead of putting money in the bank and paying the bank to keep it for you. At least if you put your gold under your mattress, it wouldn't lose its value, and it wouldn't cost you anything to keep it. Negative interest rates are for dummies. They should be a positive influence for rising gold prices, but most people in most countries are so stupid that it doesn't play out like that--particularly in Europe. Negative interest should drive up the price of gold.

Hatha

The same could be said for land or livestock (not the human kind either).

[mick silver]

something coming and I have no clue what it is but we all know the banks are broke the government broke everyone making less . I keep what I need in a bank to pay bills and that's IT , HELL PAINT YOUR BARS and make door stops there more then one way to skin a rat

[horseshoe3]

Negative interest rates make no sense. Why would anyone pay a bank to hold his money? It would be smarter to buy and hold gold instead of putting money in the bank and paying the bank to keep it for you. At least if you put your gold under your mattress, it wouldn't lose its value, and it wouldn't cost you anything to keep it. Negative interest rates are for dummies. They should be a positive influence for rising gold prices, but most people in most countries are so stupid that it doesn't play out like that--particularly in Europe. Negative interest should drive up the price of gold.

Hatha

This is the idea behind 100% reserve banking. The bank is a warehouse. You pay it to protect your property. All the property is there all the time waiting for you to withdraw it.

I don't think a lot of people understand exactly what they are talking about when they condemn fractional reserve banking. As far as I can tell, almost all of the ills attributed to fractional reserve banking are actually caused by fiat money. I think fractional reserve could work fine with real money. You'd have to keep close tabs on your banker though, to make sure his deposit slips were as good as he claimed they are.