Think of a savings account like a bond. One loans money to a bank (essentially a bond) and they get paid interest. The interest rate reflects the risk of not getting repaid. There is no risk with a bank unless the entire country collapses, but with corporate – including junk bonds – there is risk and the interest rates reflect that. The banks are getting a free pass on paying the proper amount of interest given the risk they are taking as the government is subsidizing them with insurance. The underlying problem is that the FDIC insurance corp. doesn’t collect in premiums from banks what it should to cover the losses. Therefore it’s taxpayers that are left with the risk.