Lots of elderly have saved their whole lives, and depend on CD income to supplement Social Security and/or pensions. How does anyone gain if this group can't make ends meet, start needing welfare, and stop spending money?
CD rates have been cut in half since GWB took office. For many, it has been a disincentive to invest...they need twice as much principal to generate the interest they used to get.
Pandering to the elderly? How about calling it rewarding those who spent their whole lives paying their bills, raising children, working hard, and saving for their futures with at least a 5% interest rate on long term CDs?
Can you really expect anything other than that kind of attitude? How many years has the market been conditioning people to borrow and spend like drunken sailors, put all of their retirement savings into the casino, er, I mean stock market, and lease their cars (not to save any money, but to get more car).
The banks are more than happy to hand out 0% on credit cards for 6 months. In fact, this news will likely push those efforts into overdrive, knowing that those bigger balances will generate lots of money for the banks when the tables eventually turn on debtors. Looks like the the country didn't learn it's lesson from the 1970's.