Negative Interest Rates - Deception or Stupidity?

Posted: Saturday, February 27th, 2016

Most people are aware that in some parts of the world, people pay to have their money in the bank. Forgive me, but I almost broke out in laughter. The problem is, though, that this is not a laughing matter. Can you imagine asking your neighbor to keep your money while you take a trip to ensure it's safety and paying them to do that? Maybe we could imagine doing this. We would be paying them for doing some thing for us. We can live with that. So, in the same sense, maybe banks paying negative interest rates are doing just that - charging you for watching over your money.
So, why even suggest there is any deception involved in charging negative interest rates? Probably because they make it sound like you and I cannot understand what is happening. It is too complicated, they say, to understand how the Federal Reserve and the government along with the banking system work these type of things out. You can know, though, when this type of talk goes around, that someone is lying to you. To deceive, by the way, is to lie. To lie is to mislead someone.  How can we know that? Simple. If someone told me to use a cell phone and explained how it worked to transmit signals around the world, I would not understand. If that were the case, it would be in order for them to charge me to use it, and tell me it was too complicated for me to understand.  No problem.
But if someone tells me I can't understand why I have to pay them for watching my money, I know they are deceiving me. So do you, whether this is done by the head of the Federal Reserve, the President, the banker or whoever. You and I are being deceived.  The only exception to this is if they tell me they are charging me to have my money in the their bank.  It is a charge for handling and keeping it.  Again, no problem.
So, the moral of the story is the following: If you think it is wise to pay the bank to keep your money, go for it. If, on the other hand, you want your money to increase, take it out of the bank and invest it into something reasonable that will make it work.  In the meantime, always remember, if the banks and the government tell you it is too complicated for you to understand why you have to pay the bank instead of the bank paying you, realize you are being mislead, that is, you are being deceived by being lied to - "Thou shalt not bear false witness."