It's Them, Not Me: I Can't Get No Interest

Well, the Rolling Stones sure couldn't get "no" satisfaction, and I can't get "no" interest these days.  I tell you, it's enough to make Rodney Dangerfield come out with a whole bunch of "no" respects.

Have interest rates ever been lower?

At my bank here in Spring Grove, Illinois, (I won't say the name for embarrassment), things are low.  How low can you go, well, lower.

Here are the rates for April 30th to May 6th, 2013.

Savings--  .08%
Passbook (less than $10,000)--  .08%
Passbook (more than $10,000)--  .12%30, 60 and 90-day CDs--  .01%
180 Day CD--  .15%
1 Year to 2 year CDs--  .20%
3 year CD--  .30%
5 year CD--  .70%

And why are interest rates so low.  Thank our good folks in the government who believe that the economy will recover faster if the GRBs have plenty of money to invest at cheap interest rates..  You remember the GRBs, these are the same folk that caused the Great Recession.

So, the government is really helping out the GRBs and really sticking it to the regular folks who don't have to have huge returns and get CD investments.  But, at least I'd like to see 2-3%.

In my mind, anything below 1% is just not worth it.

Hey, Obama, How About Helping Out the Little Guys for a Change?  --RoadDog


No Pun intended. 

And I Didn't Even get a Lousy Pen!!

Yesterday, I closed my checking account at NorState Banking in Round Lake. I had the account since June of 1975, a total of more than 32 years. That is a long time to be with the same bank.

Until two years ago, it was the First State Bank of Round Lake, and I was with them from their original site in downtown Round Lake on Il Route 34. I was also there when they opened the beautiful and much larger bank by the intersection of Rollins and Cedar Lake roads.

This kind of longevity just doesn't happen much any more. Not to mention this much loyalty, even when I could get better deals elsewhere. I was there.

You'd think I would have some kind of acknowledgement for all this time. There was none. They were very nice about it and asked why I was closing. I explained. But that was it. No thank you. Not even a little, bitty old pen. Nada. Nothing.

Well, it is the new corporate order. Loyalty is no longer a virtue. Loyalty is no longer rewarded. This is an unpleasant reality.

Hey, I taught for 33 years in the same school district, 31 in the same building and would have done all 33 in it, except they closed it down when a new junior high was built. You won't see that kind of loyalty with teachers either.

I Guess This Old Dinosaur Has Outlived His Era. Thank Goodness I'm Retired. --RoadDog