Savings Account with Interest? What's That?

Banking has changed significantly since I was a youngster. My first savings account was a 5% affair that I opened with a five dollar gift and was I proud of that. I put my money in the bank and they'd pay me to keep it there, the more I put in the more I'd make! Today you're lucky to see a 1.5% CD advertised as a great deal on the television. What happened? Banking got very complicated for we, the uninitiated. I thought I had an advantage by working for the Federal Reserve for a number of years but this was more complicated that that and I was in electronic funds transfers during it's infancy at the start of on-line banking for consumers. It used to be that if you needed a loan you'd see the customer service teller at the desk behind the short swinging door and set it up. Today you've got commercial lenders, personal lenders, mortgage lenders, asset based lenders, and I'm sure it goes on and on. I think this will change for the better eventually though. I look to a major player in the big box retail chain store world. They started with small stores around 30,000 sq ft(give or take) and went up to 100,000+ sq ft and are now going back to the 30,000 sq ft stores because they now say it's better. Did they waste a ton of money to "go back to start, do not collect $200". They never said they made a mistake, they said it was going to be more convenient for us, the consumer. I see banking someday returning to a simpler way under a nice big umbrella of services that's consumer friendly.