Bankers and finance experts are more upbeat. But it can be done. I'm amazed all the time as how people are able to do it. Ray Boshara, program director of the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that encourages investment and asset accumulation among the poor, says that having money left over at the end of the month is not the essential stimulus for saving. Most saving and asset-building in this country occurs because the incentives are right and because institutions, whether government or employers, support it.
Incentives are crucial to the success of electronic finance for the poor, everyone involved agrees.
When a fee is charged for each state EBT transaction, for example, people are more likely to take all their money out at once, this defeating the purpose of the account. The IDA concept is designed to provide positive incentives to save. However, if Congress passes the measure this year, the program still couldn't start up until it had received appropriations - an iffy prospect, especially since the Administration has committed no money for IDAs for fiscal 1999, and the congressional Appropriations Committees have higher priorities. People of modest means can't benefit because they pay little in taxes. It's the only way to get a national-scale program.