"that is not how you characterized it. You made it seem the FED banks keep 6% of the profit the FED generates but actually the FED banks only receive a 6% dividend on their capital investment." - Actually, I think that the fairest way to read what I wrote is that I made it generalized enough that my words don't clearly come down on one or the other option you identify. Because the distinction you're drawing isn't really relevant: My point was that the banks get their profit first, and that is absolutely true.