Revenge of the mattress

Just a little annoyance, checked out savings return tonight:
http://www.fccu.net/srates.html

Daily Share Account
$250,000.00 and higher 1.86%
$100,000.00 to $249,999.99 1.51%
$50,000.00 to $99,999.99 1.26%
$20,000.00 to $49,999.99 1.00%
$10,000.00 to $19,999.99 0.70%
$2,500.00 to $9,999.99 0.55%
$100.00 to $2,499.99 0.25%

Okay, so pretend I have $10,000 in savings. My quarterly interest is a big $13.72.

I just wonder if it's worth keeping ANY money in savings with such a small return. At least my Roth IRA is returning 5.00% APR, and 5 year CD 5.50% APR, so that's more respectable.

So back to my hypothetical $10k, for $13.72, I might as well forget it completely, and just take out all of it and hide it under my mattress - like the olden days when people were afraid of banks failing. OF COURSE my deposits are FDIC insured so it really is as safe as anything for at least holding dead value.

Partly just thinking about the claim of fractional reserve system that allows cash multiplication. So in effect, every $10,000 savings allows up to $100,000 in new credit through the system, at least if my credit union was secure to lend out my money, which apparently they're NOT since they're returning such a small interest rate. So perhaps if I feel cranky about our insane debt society I should be glad for my low interest rate as proof my money is setting mostly dead.

On the other side, since I'm paying 5% on my mortgage (ARM fixed rate at least), I can get that much return just by paying down my mortgage, which means my savings really just for short term security of cash flow and emergency expenses, which explains why my savings is yet below $10,000 anyway.

Who knows, maybe if I ever pay off my mortgage and have actual positive cash without selling my HOME, perhaps I ought to invest in some pretty gold bars like a good insane capitalist waiting for the fall of the dollar (or hyperinflation or whatever you believe).

I guess I'll keep my mattress unfunded for the moment. Just annoyed.