"I think, when you say that banking is simple to the moderately educated, you're objectively wrong."
Moderately educated means that a person as spent a few days in their lifetime informing themselves how simple accounting and consumer/small business banking works. It's not rocket science. If you can't read a simple financial or income statement, you can't make an informed decision about a choosing a bank or understand starting a company. Most people do cargo-cult personal finance.
Why should people pay a middle man for good treatment when they can shop around and find a credit union that will do so, sans the vig?
I agree that in a world where banks try their hardest to screw their customers, people should know how banks work. But a better world would be one where people don't need to worry about how their bank might screw them because their bank is not trying to screw them.
Anyway, in point of fact, most people don't inform themselves of these things, and I don't think those people should be punished for assuming their bank will be trustworthy.
Moderately educated means that a person as spent a few days in their lifetime informing themselves how simple accounting and consumer/small business banking works. It's not rocket science. If you can't read a simple financial or income statement, you can't make an informed decision about a choosing a bank or understand starting a company. Most people do cargo-cult personal finance.
Why should people pay a middle man for good treatment when they can shop around and find a credit union that will do so, sans the vig?