Bob42 of Fall River, MA If State Chartered bank and Credit Unions could offer tax free interest savings accounts, that would encourage more savings. Maybe only on the first $1,000 for state residents and property owners.report abuse

Chris of Brunswick, ME Rush2Judge: The Federal Reserve is lending some $300 billion to banks in short-term funds. The banks have to put up some of their assets as collateral. However which banks are borrowing isn't disclosed publicly. Then the banks can invest in longer-term assets like car loans, which provide them a much better return than they paid to borrow short-term.

However the higher the interest rates they receive on their longer-term assets, the larger the risk of default. Banks also know that every once in a while the default rate is going to dramatically increase on their longer-term assets like car loans etc., or in this case "sub prime" mortgages that never should have been written. Then a few banks fail and the banks have learned to come screaming to Congress to be bailed out.

The last time the banks ran into this excessive default rate on their longer-term assets was 1987, so it’s been nearly 20 years. However all the banks knew the excessive default rate would happen again, and they all knew they would get bailed out once again. Thus this current bailout legislation is one of the biggest scams on the American people, which is why Michael Michaud deserves so much credit for voting against it on Tuesday.report abuse

shadfry of Augusta, ME Kennebec Savings Bank is the only bank I have always used and will continue to use!report abuse

Bole of Augusta, ME All banks can lend money if your credit score is above 700.report abuse