I have been wanting to write this note about Chavez. He is no more but the impact he made on Venezuela and the politics of Latin America and beyond is considerable. I had a chance to be in Caracas and in Barquisimeto when he was the Presidente and the impact he had made on the society was significant.
The banking world was distraught, it was not just that the banks had fund Chavez's plans but also had to keep the infrastructure open for the poor and the hitherto "un-banked".
One scheme that was being discussed was the La Politica Habitationes - the housing plan where all "workers" either self employed or employed by others had to contribute a part of income (through another set of regulations and agreements) to ultimately get a housing benefit. The money would go to a government fund and there would be returns. All good so far but the funds would be collected in Bank Accounts (just a store who had to transfer money to the government periodically and report) and the banks had to have a quota of such accounts to fill.
Take this further - these accounts would need to have infrastructure similar to that of a typical customer operative account (at least a savings account).
For those employed at the bank, dealing with those with limited means in itself is beneath dignity but "serving" such a large number is abhorring particularly for such low returns with no liberty to play with these funds. The real estate is expensive and technology can tend to catch up late in this segment where a pass book record is considered a guarantee or proof of funds availability. People would queue up every month may be to just check the balance. Senor Chavez would not take a no for an answer.
As in many such matters there can be a huge polarization of opinions and it is not fair to ask an external observer to make an opinion. Apart from the typical social, economic and political issue that needed resolution there was a technology issue that was there to be resolved - to keep the cost low and provide a wider access.
I remember there were talk of stored value cards (will they be Visa, Maestro, Master - imaging somebody who you thought otherwise would be carrying the Visa power) that are accessible on Multiple channels (to leverage among others shared networks) - ATMs and Mobiles were actively discussed. The talk of kiosks that are not attached to the physical branch perhaps in locations closer to the location of the customers. There was mention about selling store value cards available in street side shops (in a slightly unrelated context).
There was no middle path the banks had to fall in line. Both the source of funds and the application of funds and the ultimate use of the fund were pre-defined.
In India, there are these Aadhar cards and MNREGA scheme. This a new source of revenue for consultants to solve another problem.
One may say, if there is an open mind socialism is the best financier for capitalism - it is just that somebody has to figure it out. Like somebody told me the other day one should not be bogged down by jargon. The result of successful socialism is individual wealth and money makes money - does that sound like capitalism. I don't know of any society that has bucked this trend. Charity is also if you have money, individual charity is capitalism not socialism.
All old things are better of in museums and as ruins for tourist places. Let the new flow and it need not always wrapped in a gift paper with a ribbon.
A little rhetoric this one ...but none the less RIP Senor Chavez.
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