Yes, it's true. In years to come, the United States of America will offer all of its citizens the service of totally free electronic banking. Why? It's simple. Paper and metal money are soon to become totally obsolete. The virtual age is here!! So why do we still use this antiquated paper and metal stuff? Think of it. There is currently a huge government beauraucracy that deals specifically with issues directly and indirectly relating to the printing and managing of physical money. All of these people's lives depend on these jobs. So, when money goes virtual (as it inevitably will), there has to be a way of extending some of these government employment positions into this new system.
The government already shovels a SHITLOAD of taxpayers money into supporting typical everyday monetary transactions (like going to the grocery store and buying some bananas). The entire physical money infrastructure is federally funded and maintained. At present, it is the commercial sector banks that make the money out of offering people the convenience of electronic banking. They also offer us the "convenience" of writing checks (usually at a price).
Hell, why not simply do away completely with physical money and let the taxpayers' money go towards paying for a federal system of electronic banking. Sure, it'll cost money for the federal government to pay for point-of-sale systems at all business concerns. But think of the amount of money saved in not having to print, replace and manage physical money. Think of the potential for eliminating the problem of counterfeiting. Imagine the amount of theft that could be eliminated. With none of that valuable paper money lying around, there'd be little left to steal. The 7-11s of this world will be in 7th heaven. No more midnight armed robberies. Why, there'll be nothing left to steal - except maybe some cans of spam. Think of the savings to police departments and law enforcement agencies. Hell, the federal government could cut income tax in two. Instead of charging us tax, the government may even be able to pay us interest on our money (well, almost). The government will still be in the business of managing money. Except, now it'll be virtual money.
Aren't we all sick and tired of dealing with banks that charge US money to have OUR money sit in their banks? We're talking here about checking accounts that offer no interest, but instead COST US monthly service charges. In addition, us poor suckers cough up typically a dollar a time when we make transactions at ATMs that don't bear the brand name of the bank that we bank at.
CONCLUSION:
Hell, we're already paying for a monetary system! Why pay bank's for another one? Let's just upgrade the existing federal monetary structure to meet the electronic age. Let's get basic electronic banking out of the commercial sector and into the federal system. We can leave investment banking to the commercial sector.