Yunus' Vision for an Alternative Future

I don't know much about microloans but get all excited in the hype. I do know they're the baby of Muhammad Yunus, whose accolades includes the Nobel Peace Prize (along with his Grameen Bank, the only business corporation to of done so), the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 26 honorary doctorate degrees, and a host of others. I should mention he's also won a place on my FB fanpage. So, I've been meaning to and now am on a mission to find out more about this man, as it might be nice to know a little bit about the guy I'm supporting and the ideas which supposedly do it for me. Apparently along the way he's picked up some economical critics. Tied to his work is his mission of fighting poverty. The below quotes come from an RSA lecture.

When talking about the "hypothetical" example of an illiterate mother and a doctor daughter, said:

What creates poverty? Is poverty inside the person, or is poverty imposed on the person? The answer comes very clear everyday experience. It is definitely not inside the person. It's not something missing in the person, the basic ingredient of the person. It is the failure of the system, failure of society which makes that person the way she is. A little change can make it all the difference.

So the conclusion you always come up with if poverty is created by the system, it is an external imposition on human beings not internal outgrowth of the person. So how do we fix the system? That's the question you'll be asking as we go along

*bobs head side-to-side*, it might be a little more complicated than that. Okay though, so where are microloans heading?

[W]hen people say, "What is it you want to change? Would like us to change at this moment?" I say not at this moment, I have been talking it for many, many years now. The financial system is not doing the right thing. That needs to be changed, because they deny access to so many millions even billions of people from that system. It cannot be the right system. For those billions of people banks do not exist. How can you run your life, which runs on money, without getting connected with the financial system. So you are condemning to another world because they have no bank system for them.

People ask me in NY, when we were opening the third branch in *unintelligible*. One journalist asked, "So you are spreading your branches from another. What do you ultimately look for?" I said well I hope someday we will be able to provide financial service to all people in NYC. To those who are deprived from the conventional system. "And what will that mean?" I said that will mean, NYC will be the first be the first city in the United States, they'll be no payday loans anymore. They'll be gone. I said this is a sickness in the society to have payday loans, and go and advertise in the newspaper, advertise on television that come we'll lend you money. Interest rate 1500%. Interest rate 1000%. Nobody cares, and people are condemned to deal with them and that becomes a trillion dollar business. Because it doesn't concern me and you, we are not invovled in it. So *unintelligible*

I said if you are successful, there will be no check-cashing companies. Cause the whole United States is filled with check-cashing companies. People cannot cash their check. Check they receive from the government; check they receive from the employer. They cannot get their money. Bank will not let them open a bank account. Millions of people in the United States are not fortunate to have bank accounts, because bank will not let them open a bank account. They're too small for them. So they go to the check-cashing companies to get their money, and they get less than their check. Because the check-cashing company takes money off from the check.

And NYC will be the first city in the United States where you will not see pawnshop signs, big pawnshop everywhere you see. This city will never have pawnshop anymore because we take care of those needs for the people and so on.

So this is a system. We pride ourselves being the most sophisticated banking system in the world, but it's not provided to the people. I keep saying the people who live under the shadows of those skyscrapers, the banks don't do business with them. They do business with the world, but not to their own neighbors. So we need to fix that system. What about it is, is it should be an inclusive system, nobody will be rejected.

Wow, if that's not a vision for shalom, I don't know what is. Alright, I'll shill. Tell me more.

There are two kinds of businesses. Business to make money, business to solve problems. And let them decide what kind of business they would like to be in, as an employee or as an investor or as an entrepreneur. Today there is no choice. If you want to be successful, either you own a business company or you join a business company to make money for somebody else. So you devote all your talent, all your creativity in the company so that the shareholders of the company can make bigger money. That's all our prospect is. I said that's not something that inspires human beings. Human beings are much bigger than making than just making money for our shareholders. We have big capacity to address the problems and move on to a better life for everybody.

Social businesses, hmm....

Thoughts?