False choice - the poor don't have banking services with fees they can afford, once overdraft fees are considered, therefore they pick cash.
> > banks offer "no-fee" accounts because they are confident
> > they will make it back and more in high overdraft fees
>
> Yeah, I know what you mean: poor people are just too irresponsible to
> have access to banking services.
No, but with 50% of African-American kids not finishing high school in 4 years as a quite reasonable reaction to terrible schooling for the working class, I think many poor people are basically innumerate. This leads them into a lot of scams and predatory banking practices. "I don't trust banks" is a way of saying "I can't negotiate this system without getting cheated". Therefore, cash is the better alternative. You live in that weird world where people can walk through casinos and not gamble. Well, people can *in theory* but obviously they don't.
Very well-educated people get into terrible trouble with credit - lots and lots of them. To get out of that kind of trouble they end up having to turn to family, friends and creditors - their community. One of the important ideas behind micro-credit is to make credit decisions a community matter. So one person doesn't borrow money, a village or some sort of investment circle does. In general, that leads to wiser, less erratic behavior.
Perhaps you think people who get into credit trouble are somehow unworthy of consideration, but since there are so many, I think your attitude is silly. Isolated, atomized people make bad decisions and communities make better decisions - or don't you believe that.
Boddi