Derelict Space

Q: What are banks for?

A: To make money.

Q: For the customers?

A: For the banks.

Q: How do banks make money?

A: Customers lend it to them, and they lend it to other customers, each time charging interest.

Q: How much interest?

A: It depends on the bank. They set the rate as a rate of profit.

Q: Why isn’t it my profit? It’s my money after all.

A: You make a profit as long as you don’t withdraw your money: usually around half of one percent.

Q: Why do I need a bank at all?

A: You have to pay for goods and services that will not take cash.

Q: Why won’t they take cash? It seems a system designed to guarantee the banks a profit.

A:

Q: And why would I need a bank if I didn’t want to withdraw my money?

A:

Q: Hello? Why would a bank not want me to withdraw my money?

A: Because if you withdraw it they can’t lend it to anyone else.

Q: And if I remove my money which has been lent to someone else?

A: The bank will give you someone else’s money.

Q: But suppose that person wanted his/hers too? What if everyone wanted his/her money at once?

A: It’s the theory of banking practice that they never would.

Adapted from G. Edward Griffin. The Creature from Jekyll Island and Punch.