Microloan Pioneer and His Bank Win Nobel Peace Prize

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

So this is why you care so much about my marriage

How can I care about something that doesn't exist?

ding ding round #483

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Snaps VP your post has been a whole day and no replies...snaps a good story about a Muslim gets no replies...but any thread that is filled with or could twisted into drama gets all the play

I guess we don't care if people are doing good things in the world and winning nobel peace prizes as long as they all have their marriages properly registered under man's law.

BTW... my daughter has gotten into the habit of saying 'O snap!' lately... she's picked it up from me I guess... anyway, whenever she says it I think about my sweet sister Henia

Sorry...I didn't catch this thread here, but I certainly read it in the news. Very inspirational! ...and yes, unfortunately, his ideals don't bode very well with our capitalist mindset.

[Mirorgate 0]

It is a different choice for sure, but I can understand the logic behind not limiting awards to individual activits and non-profit organizations. When a business operates not only to make money but also serve a need in the community, I think that is good business and a promotion of peace.

Yep, I agree... especially last sentence.

who cares if he was even bhuddist? he saw a need, and took steps to fill that need. congradulations to him for doing something productive.

Sorry...I didn't catch this thread here, but I certainly read it in the news. Very inspirational! ...and yes, unfortunately, his ideals don't bode very well with our capitalist mindset.

Steven.. his bank has made over $15mil in profits according to the article. how is that not capitalist?

[Alex+R 0]

"What it has to do with peace," he added, "is that it gives dignity to families and hope to families. And it's the lack of hope that is the greatest cause of bloodshed and intolerance."

"Though it is not the first time the committee has chosen to honor economic development as a contribution to world peace, rather than the more usual diplomacy, rights advocacy or philanthropy, it is the first time the prize has been awarded to a profit-making business."

I don't see what he is doing has anything to do with peace. Said most of his loan went to women and I don't recall seeing any female car bombers. It must have been a slow year for peace candidates.

I am just seeing this now. What is peace, exactly, to you?

The Grameen bank could hold the key, and has for a while now been a model, for a component to ending world poverty.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Sorry...I didn't catch this thread here, but I certainly read it in the news. Very inspirational! ...and yes, unfortunately, his ideals don't bode very well with our capitalist mindset.

Steven.. his bank has made over $15mil in profits according to the article. how is that not capitalist?

Traditional banks considered such people too risky to lend to, and the amounts they needed too small to bother with. Dr. Yunus’s simple but revolutionary idea was that the poor could be as creditworthy as the rich, if the rules of lending were tailored to their circumstances and were founded on principles of trust rather than financial capacity. He found that they could achieve lasting improvements to their living standards with a little bit of capital.

That's what I meant by 'our capitalist mindset'. If you're poor in this country, good luck trying to get a loan that doesn't have an outrageously high interest rate because you're considered a high risk, let alone the charges and fees. The only credit that's available to poor people in this country keeps them in perpetual debt, when all they can afford is the minimum payment. Piss on the poor.

Edited October 16, 2006 by Steven_and_Jinky

[Mirorgate 0]

Traditional banks considered such people too risky to lend to, and the amounts they needed too small to bother with. Dr. Yunus’s simple but revolutionary idea was that the poor could be as creditworthy as the rich, if the rules of lending were tailored to their circumstances and were founded on principles of trust rather than financial capacity. He found that they could achieve lasting improvements to their living standards with a little bit of capital.

That's what I meant by 'our capitalist mindset'. If you're poor in this country, good luck trying to get a loan that doesn't have an outrageously high interest rate because you're considered a high risk, let alone the charges and fees. The only credit that's available to poor people in this country keeps them in perpetual debt, when all they can afford is the minimum payment. Piss on the poor.

ah yes.. contra to "traditional" business mindset true. well I agree with you there.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

SAFEGUARDING THE AMERICAN DREAM:

WHY WE MUST LOWER THE HIGH COST OF BEING POOR

By Douglas W. Nelson

Since welfare reform became law in 1996, almost 2.5 million parents have left the welfare rolls. Thanks in part to expanded earned income tax credits and other social policy investments, many more low-income parents are holding down jobs and bringing home paychecks than in the 1980s or early ’90s.

This progress is a hopeful sign for America’s at-risk kids: their prospects are inextricably tied to the

economic well-being of their parents.

Reducing the high cost of being poor won’t be a quick fix...[but] this challenge must be met, because it threatens the integrity of the American dream itself.

But the increasing work effort among low-income families is tempered by two realities. First, the slow job market and continuing decline in real wages among unskilled and semi-skilled workers leave far too many families in economic jeopardy, unable to establish financial security or build wealth.

Second, the families trapped on this financial treadmill, those who earn least in our country, often pay the most for basic goods and services. Low income families don’t merely have less to spend for necessities, they actually have to spend more to get them. From getting to work to getting ahead, being poor costs more.

As a result, millions of low-income working families remain one crisis away from economic catastrophe—one car breakdown, one illness, one week when a neighbor or grandmother can’t tend the children.

Building on an essay in the Foundation’s 2003 KIDS COUNT Data Book, this edition of ADVOCASEY documents the “high cost of being poor” in eyeopening detail—particularly the immense cost of credit paid by many low-income families.

One story examines the ambitious efforts of a North Carolina organization to combat predatory mortgage lending—an epidemic that has depleted the finances of millions of American families. Another looks at efforts to rein in “payday lending”—costly short-term loans that have proliferated wildly in recent years. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, predatory mortgage lending costs borrowers $9.1 billion per year, and payday loans drain another $3.4 billion in fees and interest from poor workers’ pockets.

High-cost credit also burdens low-income adults on their commutes to work. Given our nation’s weak public transportation networks, owning a car is often a job-holding necessity. Yet low-income buyers routinely pay three or four times higher interest on car loans than middle-class borrowers: on a 5-year loan for a $13,000 car, paying 20 percent interest instead of 6 percent means $93 a month less to spend on groceries and other necessities.

Once they own a car, drivers living in poor neighborhoods often pay far more for auto insurance

than suburban drivers—even if they have identical driving records.

Low-income families also pay more for everyday goods like food, clothing, and sundries. Historically, large-scale retailers and discount outlets have avoided low-income neighborhoods. As a result, residents of low-income urban and rural communities pay 20 percent more on average for a basket of groceries than a typical suburban family.

Further, because of difficulties in saving or acquiring credit, many low-wage workers are seduced into acquiring big-ticket needs like furniture or appliances through “rent-to-own” outlets. These customers pay two to three times what the merchandise would cost if they could afford to pay cash.

For many low-income families, money itself is a high-cost commodity. Instead of maintaining bank

accounts, some rely on expensive check-cashing outlets and other fringe financial institutions. Meanwhile, bank fees have increased dramatically for those who do bank but can’t maintain a high minimum balance.

Some of these costs are understandable, of course. It does cost more to operate a small, mom-and-pop store in an inner-city neighborhood or rural community. And it is reasonable for an honest lender to charge higher rates for higher-risk loans. But shopping at these businesses and borrowing at high interest need not be the only options for low-income families.

Local government and community groups can work with retailers to return high-quality shopping to lowincome areas. Several major retailers and communities have joined together and proved that stores can earn profits serving these neighborhoods.

We can also provide low-income consumers with more consumer education, greater access to financial services, and more opportunities to build credit. Using new tools to measure creditworthiness, like tracking whether a consumer pays utility bills on time, credit experts have documented that many low-income consumers are, in fact, good credit risks.

Emerging strategies, such as Individual Development Accounts, provide a means to encourage and reward savings among low-income families. And community credit unions are providing borrowers both low-cost, short-term loans and financial literacy education to help them avoid debt traps set by payday lenders and other fringe finance profiteers.

Stronger regulation is needed as well. State and federal finance agencies can do far more to protect lowincome consumers from predatory lending practices.

Reducing the high cost of being poor won’t be a quick fix. It will require sustained, sophisticated,

innovative actions from the public and private sectors. However difficult, this challenge must be met, because it threatens the integrity of the American dream itself. It is that important.

Douglas W. Nelson is the president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation

[rclouse 0]

Surely they knew someone or saw the negative effects in their own communities that poverty/oppression has led to?

I'm not saying what this individual is doing isn't a good thing, but I think the meaning of peace prize was twisted to give this person the award.

When people, especially young men, have a job to do they tend not to become terrorist foot soldiers. So yes, this Muslim man deserves the Peace Prize for his economic solution to fighting poverty.

/suck it, Freepers

[Mirorgate 0]

Surely they knew someone or saw the negative effects in their own communities that poverty/oppression has led to?

I'm not saying what this individual is doing isn't a good thing, but I think the meaning of peace prize was twisted to give this person the award.

When people, especially young men, have a job to do they tend not to become terrorist foot soldiers. So yes, this Muslim man deserves the Peace Prize for his economic solution to fighting poverty.

/suck it, Freepers

Sooooo... now its lack of work? I thought before (reading here on VJ) that is was lack of schooling? Or maybe (also reading opinion here) that it's wrongly translated verses of the qu'ran.

or maybe jealousy, hatred, anger, fear, etc of what one wants but doesnt have.

or maybe there isn't just any one thing.. and they just chose to go that route.

either way.... killing ppl because one thinks it justifies one's ideologies is just wrong.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Snaps VP your post has been a whole day and no replies...snaps a good story about a Muslim gets no replies...but any thread that is filled with or could twisted into drama gets all the play

I guess we don't care if people are doing good things in the world and winning nobel peace prizes as long as they all have their marriages properly registered under man's law.

BTW... my daughter has gotten into the habit of saying 'O snap!' lately... she's picked it up from me I guess... anyway, whenever she says it I think about my sweet sister Henia

Cool post. I've been busy lately so I missed it on the first pass.

[Veiled Princess 1]

So this is why you care so much about my marriage

How can I care about something that doesn't exist?

ding ding round #483

Hey how did this get to OT?

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

So this is why you care so much about my marriage

How can I care about something that doesn't exist?

ding ding round #483

Hey how did this get to OT?

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;#entry507747

post 14

from earlier in this topic, btw

Edited October 16, 2006 by charlesandnessa

[Veiled Princess 1]

from earlier in this topic, btw

I meant how did this topic get to OT... I posted it in ME/NA.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

from earlier in this topic, btw

I meant how did this topic get to OT... I posted it in ME/NA.

maybe someone moved it......you know those thread movers work 24/7 around here

[Veiled Princess 1]

maybe someone moved it......you know those thread movers work 24/7 around here

And removed part of the title