I spotted this sign in SF’s Financial District this week, and had to laugh:

2% on a $100,000 minimum balance. Talk about punishing savers. I walked around for a couple of days, half irritated about the whole thing, half relieved that I’m getting about twice that on a couple of CDs I bought a couple of years ago. Then I saw this news out of Sweden:

The weak development of the economy requires a somewhat more expansionary monetary policy. The Executive Board of the Riksbank has therefore decided to cut the repo rate by 0.25 of a percentage point to 0.25 per cent. The repo rate is expected to remain at this low level over the coming year. At the same time there are several signs that economic activity will improve.
[...]
The minutes from the Executive Board’s monetary policy discussion will be published on 16 July. The decision on the repo rate will apply with effect from Wednesday, 8 July. The deposit rate is at the same time cut to -0.25 per cent and the lending rate to 0.75 per cent.

The Swedish can now pay for the luxury of warehousing their cash in banks.