Banks in the United States reported a total of $37.6 billion in profits for the latest quarter of 2012 — a record figure in the last six years.

But a great part of this profit was made hurting the elderly who have worked and have savings accounts and 401(k) plans to secure their golden years without asking the government or their children for help. Some banks pay their savings customers 0.01 percent interest while charging their credit card customers 25 to 30 percent interest.

Also we hear that something should be done to save people’s homes from foreclosure when in fact, those homes never were theirs. They bought those homes without any down payment expecting to make big profits selling them a year later.

The Federal Reserve is making the life of elderly working people miserable to benefit people who don’t deserve it. I guess the banks should recognize Ben Bernanke’s efforts to increase banks’ record profits.

Mario R. Nimo, Miami