[wolverine876]

> banks as the only "safe" place to park money

You can park your money safely anyway, just buy a vault. There are even specialized bank accounts where they just store you money and don't lend it out.

However, you won't earn any interest, and thus will lose opportunity cost and also lose value as cash inflates.

Additionally, the money that banks lend is critical to the economy - which includes your job and the general welfare - like water to a person. If banks stop lending - if all that money gets put in a vault - businesses and citizes lose access to money to develop things and we get talented people and valuable resources sitting dormant, a depression.

[whatshisface]

Recently, and for the foreseeable future, interest rates are/will be so far below inflation that they truly do not matter. A mattress might be just as good as a bank for the next decade or so.

[wolverine876]

What is that based on?

[whatshisface]

It's been true for a very long time, and unless we see enormous amounts of growth, it will have to stay true. If you look at Fed plans to raise interest rates, you'll see that even in the highest estimates they're looking at fractions of a percent. Meanwhile, we're having months with 8% annualized inflation.

[wolverine876]

> It's been true for a very long time

Until this year, we've hardly had any inflation since before 2008, at least. Deflation was a bigger concern. The margin between inflation and interest rates was very small.

I see what you are asserting, but again, what is all this based on?