Who should be a banker

From the article: "Most people today know more about their iPod than the soundness of their bank’s balance sheet because they think the magical FDIC is guaranteeing their deposit. This has led to people only caring about the interest paid on their savings or money market accounts and not on the actual bank. Well the FDIC doesn’t really have any money, it just has our money that is taken via taxation."

For a while now, as the Shire Silver projects have progressed, I've been tempted to add traditional banking services to the list of services we will provide. Of course, in today's reality, with government intruding all over the place and inserting its tendrils where they can do the most harm, providing bank-like services is fraught with peril. That is one of the main reasons why I don't believe Shire Silver (or this author) will get into acting like a bank any time soon. Also, getting banking right is hard, and we don't really need that challenge right now.

But this article on Survival Blog got me thinking. Do we really need a "bank"? If so, who would I like to see operate one?