IT SHOULD NOT COST POOR TO SAVE.

Yesterday's article by Nicholas D Kristof in new york times is quite interesting and informative . The point made by Mr Kristof is that poor have pay to save in poor countries .He had shown examples where poor were being charged to save money.Charges were for protection against theft, robbery and other losses like fire.Mr Kristof has written that at times poor pay 40 percent to protect their saving ,that is real shame.Mr kristof showed the role of micro finance was more important for secure saving for poor people without expenses.
Poor in America also pay unreasonably for check cashing services.They are also unable to open Bank accounts.As we are bailing out the banks all over we can pass a law that all banks have to open a savings account of every citizen irrespective of their financial status. There may be hundred reasons not to do it ,but empowering every citizen is one reason we should do it.If we can save ten dollars a month for 30 million people it will add $ 3600 million to the annual wealth of poor among us.There are many things we can do as a nation to improve the life of poor,if we have the desire and expertise to do so.Many of the programs for the poor are there to help some other constituency also.Like food stamps is department of agriculture program to help the farmers and to get the food procured to the needy.
Similarly Most Section 8 housing assistance programs have helped landlords by providing subsidy for rental subsidy .As easily it could have been devoted for ownership .It has not been used for that purpose.
Many of the other programs for poor are very badly managed by asking people to go through hoops again and again and create an unnecessary.A uniform financial benefits electronics file should be created so that the paperwork can be reduced and that will free up resources for extra services for the needy.
We as a nation are looking at electronic medical data so we should create a similar data file for financially needy to save time and expenses.