[proxy_user]

"The consequence is a wealth transfer of tens of billions of dollars every year from middle-class families to a handful of big banks."

The banks don't actually keep this money. They mostly sell off the revenue stream from credit cards to institutional investors, mostly large mutual funds.

But some gets paid out in dividends.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Easy credit encourages people to get into debt.

It would be instructive if people were paid in full and then wrote a check each month to Uncle Sam.

[sergeantdave]

Banks keep some of that money. Last report I saw said banks earned $60 billion in profits in year 2000 for moving around Xs and Os on the computers. Nice racket if you can get into it.

Of course a person can't simply open a bank without permission from the Club Fed.