May 14th, 2016

U.S. Post Office Banking:
Senator Sanders’s belief in postal banking “is quite sensible.”  -- which just means that post offices run savings accounts, cash checks, and perform other basic financial services” that "is common in most of Asia and Europe.”  “Postal banking is a really good way to reach people who haven’t had access to standard savings accounts.”
“The reason why this would be so useful in the U.S. is that somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of the population has to rely on check-cashing or payday-lending services, which in some places charge usurious rates that send people into spirals of recurring debt.” - The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker
 
The author of How the Other Half Banks, Mehrsa Baradaran, believes using existing U.S. post office infrastructure and personnel for a variety of banking services is a necessary and pragmatic socio-economic idea.    - sources: PBS, The Atlantic

Added 5/16:

Four banks control 51.2% (2014) of all banking assets in the U.S.: JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank.  -Real Clear Markets, Martin Neil Baily, Sarah Holmes 
(or) Five banks control 44% (6.8 trillion) of total banking assets (or app. 15 trillion) (2014); the fifth bank being, US Bancorp. -Forbes, Steve Schaeffer
(or) Five banks control 44.61% (2015) of all U.S. bank assets. - CNBC
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Added 5/19: "One in four local banks has vanished since 2008."  - Banking
  
“The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States.  It was founded by Congress in 1913 to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system." - Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Janet L. Yellen is Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.  - Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System


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