I've never had a credit check for a checking account. They used to do these a long time back (and it was totally reasonable), but they don't really anymore.
Yes, account maintenance fees are lame, but there are banks that don't have these. They've only recently become widespread for your typical checking account. Banks are getting more aggressive since the myth that using banks somehow benefits the customer is dead (they no longer pay interest, and mostly just laugh when you complain).
For the other things, yes, if you want use your bank account to pay, you have to make sure it has money in it. Is that some sort of problem? Do you expect a bank account to be a license for free money, or this to just automatically handle itself? I don't get it. You say people want bank accounts but can't get them because they don't have the "time and patience" to manage them? Isn't that a good reason not to give them to them?
We do, in fact, have strict banking regulations and a federally-backed insurance program to protect depositors in mismanaged institutions.
I guess the point is that people always paint the U.S. as if it's some wasteland where we kick the teeth of everyone with a net worth < $1M. That's not the case. On further inspection, as in this thread, you'll find that many (though not all) such complaints are someone attempting to craft a sob story out of the fact that we don't live in a rainbow world where bank accounts magically fill themselves up.