Well, this is quite a long thread, full of very interesting opinions and far too much vitriol for my tastes, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth...
First, we have to take a few things for granted (as we only have one side of this, which I currently have no reason to find dishonest):
* The troop has several fundraisers, one of which is designated to maintain troop resources, the remainder devoted to building "accounts" for boys' Scouting-related needs
* Past practice has allowed Scouts to take funds with them when moving to other Scouting units, with drop-outs' funds revertin