I wonder how gradual the transformation was from well intended government subsidisation program, into the present form where it reduces consumer savings account rates, provides fat sinecures for executives, and overall looks (at least based on the information in this story/article) like it does next to nothing of what it was intended to do.<p>Did it accelerate with the spiral that lead to 2008 ? or was it after ? or long before perhaps? Just when did it begin to transform and how fast did that happen? is this some long surviving vestige of 80s corporate greed?... anyone got more financial system history here? (Or do i just need to wait and track down the results of that 100 year review)
Well intentioned services with insufficient oversight feed the fraud industry. Of course too much fiction can lead to only the most desperate or motivated seeing the benefit. Often those are borderline fraudulent actors who've grown familiar with the procedures and documentation required.
This is especially infuriating:
"Banks that take advances from their FHLBs, that is most banks, do so in lieu of paying higher interest rates to their own customers. You’ve probably asked, “How can banks get away with paying on average 0.19 percent on savings accounts when the yield on 1-year treasuries is 4.75 percent?” The answer lies largely with the FHLBs."<p>I wonder how much of this very low cost credit finds its way into housing speculation-- the antithesis of building affordable housing.