Rich Brubaker

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  Rich commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  The Controversy Around Kiva's US Loans

  What I find interesting about this debate is just how it seems to fly into the face of logic.

  
  

  One the one hand, you have an organization that supports communities by providing funding to entrepreneurs.  The core goal is that through this financing, a benefit to the community comes through the business that can be started, and perhaps a hope that in the future the business will grow to employ others.

  
  

  On the other hand, you have unprecidnted job loss in the US tied with a banking system not willing to loan money to small business for fear of default, which is a double negative as it is entrepreneurs and small business are proven to be economic drivers.

  
  

  Match that to a lot of people who are looking to give money, yet are unable to reconcile the fact the it may actually be better to do so locally into a platform geared for somewhere south of the equator.

  
  

  It seems to me that there is either a gap in understanding, as in people still think that only the "poorest" should receive this aid, but in fact there are plenty of people in the US who are facing much the same hurdles.

  
  

  It would be an interesting exercise to measure why people are for/ against it.  I bet you will find the gamot of responses (from ignorance of probem, ignorance of local issues, to just a belief that those in your back yard are somehow more capable).

  
  

  I don't know, but after spending the better part of the last decade in Asia, I often find myself seeing that the poverty that exists in China is not all that different than that of the US from the perspective of the person.  That, in many ways, even though on the surface it may appear that the US poor have it better, they really do not. 

  
  

  Simply put, poor people around the world are poor, and if there is a way to assist them through microfinance or free lunch programs, then the programs should be made available.