Muhammad Yunus - The Social Business Model

pure genius

Muhammad Yunus idea of micro credits first given to Bangladeshi women and later on to the entire third world is nowadays well picked up by profit maximizing western banks, BECAUSE it is profitable for them. Try to get in literature of or about Muhammad Yunus and you will easily see that it is no dream world he has dedicated his life for. This is best practice for a solid basis of a peaceful co-existence of mankind.

I am sorry, but I cannot agree with you. Yunus received together with his Grameen Bank the Nobel Peace Price. So a mix of profitable and non profitable ventures really does have a bright future due to the economic instability in many poor countries. Furthermore, there is also something called love for your fellow people, maybe we should all think about that.

Another important thing is not to leave everything to companies, but government should also take steps. In my opinion, banking should be abolished altogether. We should bring back currency based on Gold and Silver, get rid of fractional reserve banking and let government do all the saving of money and lending at 0%. Unless we abolish interest and fiat money, we can't finish poverty!

You could give poor people interest free loans. That is why in Islam the virtue of giving interest free loan is as much as giving charity, or even more, I'm not quite sure.

Interest free loans would be a social business but we have experience that even loans with interest work very well. The key idea with having interest rates is to lure the big financial players into the game. This means more money with which to solve the problem.

I'm not a big fan of the Islamic baking system because of their tendency to replace interest with payment. You don't pay interest but you pay a fee for the money.

omegavalerius, I'm not a fan of Islamic banking either. Infact, I want us to abolish capitalism altogether. That is, fiat money, fractional reserve banking and interest. Instead we should have a gold and silver currency, no fractional reserve banking and no interest. The government can take the responsiblity of all savings and from that pool can lend people at 0% interest. In my opinion the commercialization of moneylending is what is causing recessions, depressions, inflations and poverty

A socialist banking system then? I'm sorry but the free market has a superb track record compared to socialism in its economic variations. I live in a country which is quite socialist compared for example to the States, but our prosperity would be impossible to maintain without a fully free market and the entrepreneurship that is its engine.

With the current banking system, almost every other person is burdened with debts. It only create illusion of prosperity, but it comes crashing down once the bubble bursts. Just look at US for example. Even companies like Intel and AMD are in loss, while banks like barklays still made millions during recession. The problem with capitalism is that it very much favors the parasitic bankers, which actually earn by doing nothing! Capitalism is not a must for Industrial Progress. China is an example!

The only people I know who are in debt are those who have bought a house within the past 10 years.

The problem in the U.S is not privately owned banks. Its the failing of the State to provide simple basic rules for the economy and even more its the fault of over consumption. I don't have much sympathy for people who's financial misery is self inflicted. China is a capitalist country with private banks. What is your point? Do you mean to say that democracy is not necessary for progress?