Re: "bank transactions go to your Solid pod"
It is almost the opposite of what you worry it will be. You won't be forced to create any Pods. If you did, you own the Pod, can host it (or not) and choose who can see into it.
Currently your bank keeps a record of not just your transactions, but a bunch of other data it knows about you, and it sells that information to marketers.
Large organisations have shown a pattern of giving some or all of their data to the NSA. Why would you think a Pod would be less safe from the NSA? It might make collecting the data more work (if they could no longer get it directly from your bank).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
