Great Interest

I received a bank statement today and laughed. The interest posted was 1 cent. It cost the bank 45 additional cents to mail me the statement. How ludicrous. I remember when interest was 18%. That was in the 1980's. When you walked into the banks, there would be a table stacked high with gifts, that they hoped would give you the incentive, to lock away your money, for 5 years. In those days, checking accounts got a "paltry" 5%. I remember turning my nose up at that amount. The gifts on the table, ranged from color televisions, VCR's and microwaves, to Corning Ware, toaster ovens and heating blankets. We all had to think about if we really wanted to put our money into a 5 year certificate of deposit, for 18%, PER YEAR! People tried to break up their money into as many accounts as they could to reap the benefits of receiving as many gifts as possible. Some people would ask for more than one gift per account, if they has  a sizable amount of money to deposit. "Give me a color TV and throw in the 20 piece Corning Ware". If we only knew what the future of banking would be, we would locked away as much as we could for as long as we could. I still can't believe 1 cent!