The Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) were created by the US government during the Great Depression to “provide liquidity to their members to support housing finance and community development through all economic cycles”, ie, to help low-income workers get mortgages to buy homes for their families.

But instead of doing that, these public institutions were used to bail out private banks and their rich depositors.

The US banking system is privatized and run for profit, yet relies on the state to constantly prop it up. It’s the worth of both worlds: privatization of profit but socialization of risk.