Bangladeshi economist Muhammed Yusun has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize for Peace. I love this guy!
Yusun is known for inventing the concept of microcredit and opening the Grameen Bank, an institution to put the theory into practice. The theory is that the desperately poor are not without innovation but without resources to put their innovation into action. He believes credit is the way to make it happen and that credit in effect is a human right.
By lending small amounts of money to a tightly knit group of poor villagers for the purpose of purchasing materials for use in a craft that can be sold for profit. The bank would charge interest but a minimal amount and allow for greater credit once a loan was paid back.
The Nobel committee recognized that creating solutions for the desperately poor to enter the market and move upward is essential for world peace.
Congratulations Muhammed Yusun!

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

I concur, although I'm not sure the Peace Prize is exactly right. But whatever. He deserves recognition regardless. This was clearly a case of someone seeing a problem and working to solve it. And to make it even better, he solved it using market forces! Makes a Libertarian's heart warm I tell you.

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See y'all after the election. Good luck to whichever Republicrat you are voting for.

While I agree it is a good idea...I have to laugh that the Major banks have never thought of lending money to the POOR. When you have money the banks fall all over you to get you to borrow money from them. But when you have no money the banks don't want to know you.

So Muhammed gets the Prize for, INVENTING the concept of loaning money to the poor.

Sorry, I'm still laughing, that this "concept" needed to be invented. LOL

I sure hope his theory works. He has put his theory into practice and good on him for doing so. I sincerely wish him every success.

I can only hope the major banks learn the new radical concept that poor people need money to get started!

Helping the poor is always a noble cause.

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"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives." — John Stuart Mill

I'll have to read more on his work, but the poor in this US seem to have difficulty with credit. But then again, so do a lot of people who aren't poor. I suppose he's met with some success, hence the prize.

Hey, I'm just happy Cindy Sheehan didn't win. That certainly wouldn't have helped the image of the peace prize.

His focus is on the developing world, not the U.S. I think it would be far riskier here.

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See y'all after the election. Good luck to whichever Republicrat you are voting for.

This is not about the poor in America and Western Europe (though the principles may still apply) but for third world villagers with no collateral and no money who are initially seeking EXTREMELY small profits off something like, say, a couple bamboo chairs.
The theory works as a way to jumpstart third world craftsmen... but it is very difficult to make profit off of. That leads to the microcredit banks often being dependent on contributions.

Alos note that banks' "efforts to help the poor" in the US tend to revolve aroud geting them to pay waaaaaaay more in the long-run. Microcredit is essentially a charity based on long-term improvement on poverty rather than long-term debt. Yusun encourages the third world poor to use their profits to educate their children and make good future investments... while banks loaning to the poor in the West tend to focus on convincing the poor to live beyond their means and pay for it later.
As much as micro-credit uses free market forces, it is a charity concept overall.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

It's true that he's not doing it to get rich and there is indeed a charity component, but the loans themselves are actual loans with actual interest (albeit not at 29.99%) that have to be repaid. It's not a hand out. And the people are producing products for sale, which in its own small way helps the economy where they live.

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See y'all after the election. Good luck to whichever Republicrat you are voting for.

What escapes many of us, rich or poor, in this country is how meaningful tiny increases in profit can be for a very small economy. A couple bucks is a huge profit for someone accustomed to a few cents a day.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

A preponderance of the poor in the US would blow the money on cell-phones, I Pods, top-shelf sneakers, TVs, DVD players, etc. In other words, toys, toys and more toys!

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When religion ruled the world...wasn't that the Dark Ages?