But there has been interest on both sides of Congress in creating such an account for children, although as yet there is nothing close to legislation. Its impact would be much more long term, but the suggestion was that the government should put Pounds 1,000 into an account for every child at birth - at a cost of about Pounds 720m a year. It would then offer means-tested matching funds for further savings put into it by parents, grandparents or others. After that, the young adult could pay in on the same terms. The arguments for the idea include the fact that wealth is even more unequally distributed than income.
Benefits provide income but assets can help people advance themselves.
Further, under both Labour and the Conservatives, the steady move to greater means-testing has produced a growing problem over savings. The baby bond would provide savings isolated from the means test but protected for use only for positive, life improving purposes, not mere consumption. The bond, of course, would not have to be universal. It could be aimed at the least well off. But the greater appeal might well lie in a universal bond.