Article Opinion <a

I offer an alternative theory, in that it is not what is missing but what has entered the simple equation that has caused imbalance. Simple capitalism requires only that there is no loss, and that profit is the sign of success. However, the margin of profit and the drive to increase it without a (beneficial) purpose is the result of failed human nature. Abundance is a waste if not useful, and waste is a loss of capital. Expansion or rising costs absorb profit. To show increasing profit year after year that is not used as a resource but horded for keeping score is theft. In an era of globalization and distillation of competition, the hording of resources and capital only lead to humanitarian and intellectual depravation. Dr. Yunis feels that something is missing, and in that respect I offer it is purpose, for lack of innovation and disrespect for all living matter make profiteering a futile endeavor.

After reading several of the posted comments, it seems to me that many of the commentators have not read Mr. Yunus' book, heard him speak or know much about his activities and the Gameen Bank.

Commentator Mariano Patalinug, seems to understand the sucesses of Mr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank.

Some of the commentators clearly have mis-conceptions about Mr. Yunus. He is a secularist, not a Muslim preacher. He works independent of governments. By example, when asked by Mexican President Vicente Fox about establishing a Grameen style bank in Mexico, Yunus counseled him against any government involement. The Mexican government experiment failed, the Grameen model that was established independent of the government suceeded.

I suggest that everyone read the book before writing opinoins based upon pre-consceptions rather thatn fact.

As an aside, can anyone point to a traditional bank that has a 98% payback on loans?

"Thanks, Anonymous. Is it OK if I call you Anon?"

I am not any Anon and I am caliph who ruled this world for more than 1000 years, from Morocco/Spain to Pakistan and Yemen to wall of Vienna/ Chechnya. Now I am a stateless person and even my place is in jail if I claim Caliphate. When I was in power there was no interest based economy or stealing of Continents after Continents cleansing entire original population. During my rule Christians were in majority in Spain and Eastern Europe, Hindus were in majority in India. Jews and other non-Muslims were put in high position under my domain. Every one could come and settle in my land including Cordova, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Istanbul, Delhi, and Calcutta for gathering knowledge or doing business. But instead of doing business they imported arms, created some greedy local sub-contractors and took my land from me for which I lost all land. Look they are in Iraq and Persian Gulf countries and in every Muslim land except Iran with all kind of deadly WMD. Now they are even trying to grab Iran with false pretext as they did in Iraq very recently. Now I am defeated and those for whom I cared they started propaganda against me in every News Paper and media as if I stole 4 continents killing all inhabitants or all non-Muslims were vanished under my domain. My story is sad story now as all are busy with false propaganda against me. There is none to read my following story.

http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581128770

They are hunting every where from AIR, Sea and Land and putting me in jail like the following:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/13/AR2006011301816.html

Thanks,

First of all, many of these comments are unnecessarily cyncial, inaccurate (ex: Art) and downright offensive and racist (read: Delia).

Second of all, I interned at the Grameen Bank and lived in Bangladesh, visiting countless villages, for several months. Dr. Yunus does not wear $3000 suits and he lives in a humble apartment in the center of Dhaka, in one of the poorer neighborhoods at that, close to the headquarters. I worked with his number two person, a woman, with whom he began this project 32 years ago. Both of them live with tremendous integrity and a profound commitment to end poverty. Moreover, as you travel the country and meet all the young field workers, every single person in Grameen is motivated by the mission to end poverty. They see their work as a cause to transform their country (and they don't earn as much as they could in the private sector either).

I could go on and on, but I saw it all first hand. I saw how Grameen ends poverty, how it changes gender relations, how it expands borrowers' childrens' opportunities.

I do believe that capitalism can be reshaped. As more people see the unndeniable increasing global inequality that the current system has created, we will be more attentive to human welfare and demand more of corporations. Social capitalism is a force and will transform the priorities of wealth accumulation from one of greed to more inclusive distribution.

Many of you sound like Hillary with her "reality check" and "false hopes". None of you can identify the "selfish" human gene. We only need to inculcate into society new meanings of community and make it less individual and nationalist. I know Dr. Yunus has changed the world for the better. I believe that reformed capitalism can do so as well. The rest of you naysayers can just ignore our work and go get in your SUV, buy a latte from Starbucks and then go buy your flat screen. The rest of us have work to do.

And what a pity I have had to move to DC from the Best Coast and have to interact now with such Republican Post Greedmonsters.

There are only couple voices on-topic here. Rest are rants (e.g. who knew Mr. Yonus wore $3000 suit ...lol). This needs to be moderated to keep people on topic.

I think Yonus is right. Capitalism is great and better than other systems out there, but favors folks with access to money, network and proximity to power/etablishment. So the question is HOW to fill the gaps ? I am wondering if he'd spoken about that somewhere.

PS. I'd like to declare war on stupid(and unreasonable) people :)

The real issue should have been whether the claims Grameen Bank is a predatory lender that charges high interest rates and uses "mafia like" tactics to ensure compliance are for real.

Just becuase this gentleman won the peace prize does not absolve him from any blame related to how Grameen Bank functions.

One would also like to know more about his failed attempt at forming a political party, while democratic institutions have been made subservient to the army, and why the attempt failed and who was behind it and why.

Informed and educated discussion is usually the norm except on this site where extraneous issues are being allowed by the moderators.

DEAR MOUNT HAUN,

I dont care how much history you may try to put forward in order to convince others that CAPITALISM is bad and is missing a big piece.

The matter is open, transperant, governments, CAPITALIST governments, are the one's feeding most of the billions of human beings and animals too, in this great big-small planet of ours.

STOP your corrupetd governments, leave religions to be praticed by whomever wishes, but do not allow it to interfere with LIBERTY, FREEDOM and CREATIVITY, abide by the RULE of LAWS...not RULE OF MAN or GOD ! LET THE SCHOOLS TEACH true EDUCATION, not religous-madness!! and you will see this beautiful great Planet Earth...with enough food to feed 10 billion people and enough GOLD to shine every women necks and heads with shinning golden-necklaces and head-tiaras not COVERED faces to HIDE WHAT? SHAME? VIOLENT-MARKS and WOUNDS? of what it is to leave in societies with more emphasis on how to kill than saving lives? let alone an economic-system that not only can enrich socities but lift up the poor,not only by giving humans hope but true substance! moreover, giving humans the dignity humans deserve!

Look at your tail and than criticize. Forget HISTORY. History is for Museums. And, to be repeated...only if we allow it. Power is in our own hands...not god's hand. You want to believe in God, you are Free to do so, but then STOP blaming and criticizing WE CAPITALISTS!

Wasnt it for us, the CAPITALISTS, you woundn't even have this MODE here, which you are now using: THE INTERNET!

IT IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT ! period.

WAKE UP !

In a real application we can create a capitalistic school system that operates on a ledger sheet and performs a function that the masses are desperate for. It doesn't mean they system can't be used to marginalize, deceive, and steal from the public. The state can create laws that destroy private competition and social groups may form that use the same system to exclude others from prosperity.

Capitalism and a social system are not the same. In the example of the school we need to understand how much it costs to educate children and we need to know what education the children need, but capitalism is most concerned about a system that is simple to operate. Humanity is endlessly complex, and the simple solution is they aren't worth a complex effort.

I believe the answers have to be a combination of social systems that connect with technology to open the world, make more services, knowledge and goods available to more people. Social systems also need to make the the environment civil and tolerant. Failing to address the social needs of people will undermine the ultimate potential of capitalism.

I agree Capitalism is a very efficient system that can produce great wealth. I also agree there is a large piece missing. The missing piece is ruthless and unrelenting government regulation and near-confiscatory taxes with a fair redistribution of the wealth.

Smart people, the Engineers and Scientists who make the system possible don't need great rewards for their work, unlike the dumb-assed managers and Capitalists.

Look what moderate deregulation has brought, a system of money and paper and asset shuffling that has brought the whole world economy to near collapse.

Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com

" Anonymous:

"YES THEY ARE FANTASTIC MANAGERS! LOOK AT HONG KONG! LOOK AT ALL THE OTHER PLACES!

From:

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/sassoon.htm

Hong Kong and the Sassoon Opium Wars
When the 99 year British lease on Hong Kong's New Territories expired, the Crown of the City of London's Colony was ceded to China. Of hundreds of newspaper stories and TV reports that covered this event, not one revealed how England first gained control of Hong Kong! The truth lies buried in the family line of David Sassoon, "The Rothschilds of The Far East," and their monopoly over the opium trade. Britain won Hong Kong by launching the opium Wars to give the Sassoons exclusive rights to drug an entire nation!"

Thanks, Anonymous. Is it OK if I call you Anon?

I would add that under the British management of Hong Kong, the ordinary people lived like slaves in crushing poverty with few rights while the Elites lived like royalty. Then when it looked like the Chinese were not going to extend the lease, The Brits suddenly got interested in Democracy for the people.

As for India, the Brits like their Jew and American pupils are basically degenerate peoples who must conquer by dividing and setting ethnic, religious, caste and political groups against each other.

The Brits had their Gurkhas and Sikhs, Jews their Christian and Muslim sects, the US it's Kurds, Blacks, whites, Young, old, Evangelicals etc etc. Always maximizing the Chaos and when complete, Partition.

Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com

To understand how Mr. Yunus' theory works (and it does)one has to cut though the social darwinistic stereotypes that are widely employed to explain poverty. Poor people are just that, people, not some weaker strain of the species. Given access to fair and adequate financing, materials, and resources, Yunus has proved the poor of Bangladesh are equally capable of prospering as their more affluent cousins. Today, in the US, however, the poor are routinely denied equal access to venture capital. Our social programs lock people into second class status (at best)and penalize entrepreurial initiative. The poor don't need to be protected from the rich, they just need to be guaranteed the same access to opportunity and security for the venture.

I don't think this earnest writer can have both empathy and be competitive, its oxymoronic to utter both in the same sentence. This thoughtful thinking writer is trying to solve poverty by using a form of capitalism that would soften the blow, relive or couch the emotional plight that economically challenged persons experience. Capitalism creates power and control which is measured through stratification. The social offspring of this movement, or variables is oppression. Power and control no matter how well molded or crafted is never a solution, it simply a modification to the very problem itself. The writer seems to be coming from a place of fairness, thoughtfulness and communion for the better wellbeing of others, however a more cogent observation is possibly needed to resolve this which has plagued humans since time began.

"YES THEY ARE FANTASTIC MANAGERS! LOOK AT HONG KONG! LOOK AT ALL THE OTHER PLACES!
GO AND WORK HARD DAMN LAZIES!! AS WE DO IN OUR CAPITALIST CAPITALS OF THE WORLD. AND BRING OUR BREAD TO THE TABLE. YOU LAZY 'BEAST' GO...GO...AND DO YOUR PART, STOP BLAMING CAPITALISM! YOU DONT LIKE IT ! EAT LESS! BUT DONT BLAME US IF YOU GET SLIM, SICK AND STUPID!"

From:

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/sassoon.htm

Hong Kong and the Sassoon Opium Wars
When the 99 year British lease on Hong Kong's New Territories expired, the Crown of the City of London's Colony was ceded to China. Of hundreds of newspaper stories and TV reports that covered this event, not one revealed how England first gained control of Hong Kong! The truth lies buried in the family line of David Sassoon, "The Rothschilds of The Far East," and their monopoly over the opium trade. Britain won Hong Kong by launching the opium Wars to give the Sassoons exclusive rights to drug an entire nation!

David Sassoon was born in Baghdad, Iran in 1792, son of Saleh Sassoon, a wealthy banker and the treasurer to Ahmet Pasha, governor of Baghdad (making him the "court Jew" -- a highly influential position). When Ahmet was overthrown for corruption in 1829, the Sassoons fled to Bombay, India, the strategic trade route to India and gateway to the Far East. Soon the British government granted Sassoon "monopoly rights" to the manufacture of cotton goods, silk and most importantly, Opium -- at that time the most addictive drug in the world!

The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1905, states that Sassoon expanded his opium trade into China and Japan. He placed his eight sons in charge of the major opium exchanges in China. According to the 1944 Jewish Encyclopedia: "He employed only Jews in his business, and wherever he sent them he built synagogues and schools for them. He imported whole families of fellow Jews . . . and put them to work."

Sassoon's sons were busy pushing this mind-destroying drug in Canton, China. Between 1830 and 1831 they trafficked 18,956 chests of opium, earning millions of dollars. Part of the profits went to Queen Victoria and the British government. In the year 1836 the trade increased to over 30,000 chests and drug addiction became endemic in coastal cities.

In 1839, the Manchu Emperor ordered it stopped and named Commissioner of Canton, Lin Tse-hsu, to lead a campaign against opium. Lin seized 2,000 chests of Sassoon opium and threw it into the river. An outraged David Sassoon demanded that Great Britain retaliate. Thus, the Opium Wars began with the British Army fighting as mercenaries of the Sassoons. They attacked cities and blockaded ports. The Chinese Army, decimated by 10 years of rampant opium addiction, proved no match for the British Army. The war ended in 1839 with the signing of "The Treaty of Nanking." This included provisions especially designed to guarantee the Sassoons the right to enslave an entire population with opium. The "peace treaty" included the following provisions:-

"Economy preached by Prophet Muhammad included slave trading"

Last prophet of Islam freed slaves

From:

http://www.alinaam.org.za/library/pmercy.htm

PROPHET MUHAMMAD - a mercy for all creatures
i - Mercy for Slaves

The Noble Prophet was particularly kind to slaves. He used to say, "They are your brothers; give them to eat what you eat, and give them to wear what you wear." Whenever he received any slaves, he always gave them freedom but they could never free themselves from his kindness and generosity. They left their parents, relatives and families and regarded it as an honour to live in bondage to him.

Zaid Ibn Haritha was a slave. Muuhammad freed him and gave him the choice to go with his father, who had come, to take him, but he refused to go with his father and preferred to stay with the Prophet. Muhammad loved Osama, son of Zaid, so much that he used to say that if he had been a girl, he would have adorned him with ornaments.

Slaves felt humiliated at being called slaves. He advised his companions not to say "my slave" or "my slave-girl" but to say, "my son" or "my daughter." He also told the slaves not to call their masters "lord" for Allah alone was the Lord. He was so kind to slaves that his last admonition before he died was, "Fear Allah in regard to your slaves." Abu Dharr was one of the converts and Muhammad praised him for his honesty. Once he abused a non-Arab slave, who complained to the Noble Prophet about this.

He reprimanded Abu Dhar and said, "You still have some traces of Days of Ignorance; these slaves are your brothers. Allah has given you authority over them; if they are not suited to your temperament, sell them. Don’t harm Allah’s creatures. Give them to eat what you eat; and wear what you wear. Don't give them that much work which they cannot do. If you assign a piece of work to them which is beyond their capacity, then give them a helping hand to finish their work.’

Once Abu Masud Ansari was beating his slave when he heard a voice behind him say, "Abu Masud! Allah has more power and control over you than you have over this slave." Abu Masud turned and saw that it was Allah's Messenger. He said, "O Allah's Messenger! I free this slave for the pleasure of Allah." Prophet Muhammad replied, "If you had not done so, the fire of Hell would have touched you."

People in those days arranged the marriages of slaves but forcibly separated them whenever they wished. One man arranged the marriage of his slave to his slave-girl and then waited to separate them. The slave complained to Allah's Messenger, who stood up in the Mosque and ad dressed the people "Why do people marry slaves and then separate them? The right of marriage and divorce belongs only to the husband and wife."

The effect of this kindness was that many slaves of polytheists used to run away and come to him. He used to grant them freedom. When the spoils of war were distributed, slaves were given their due share. The newly freed slaves received their shares first for they did not have any property.

Once a man came to Prophet Muhammad and said, "O Allah's Messenger! How many times should I forgive the mistakes of slaves?" The Noble Prophet kept quiet. The man repeated his question three times, and the Prophet replied at the third time, "Forgive them seventy times every day." A man had two slaves but was not happy with them. He used to beat and abuse them but they did not change their ways. He complained to the Prophet and asked for his advice. Prophet Muhammad said that if his punishment was in proportion to their wrongs, well and good; otherwise Allah would punish him for his excesses.

On hearing this the man was upset and began crying. Prophet Muhammad recited the verse from the Qur'an, "We shall set up scales of justice on the Day of Judgement." (1:47) and observed that the man did not read the Qur'an. After this he said, "O Allah's Messenger, it is better that I release them from my possession. Be witness that they are now free."

Capitalism is an economic system, not a universal social system. Only those invested or employed participate, the unemployed and unemployable are outside. Until capitalism sees itself as beneficiary of a total society built on land and using natural and legal inheritance owned by all capitalism will languish as only profit maker for those who participate.

YES THEY ARE FANTASTIC MANAGERS! LOOK AT HONG KONG! LOOK AT ALL THE OTHER PLACES!

ACCEPT THE TRUTH...AND YOUR POVERTY DAYS WILL BE OVER!

ACCEPT THRUTH AND BE HUMBLE ! AND ACCEPT THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS...IN SOMETHING! SAME APPLY TO RACES!

LOOK INTO THE TRUE ROOTS OF POVERTY...AND YOU CAN SEE IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CAPITALISM. IN FACT IT IS CAPITALISM THAT IS FEEDING BILLIONS OF PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD. SO, OTHERS...'ISM' SHOULD DO THEIR PART TOO, NOT ONLY BLAME, COMPLAIN AND CRITIZE...WITHOUT WATCHING IT'S OWN TAIL.

GO AND WORK HARD DAMN LAZIES!! AS WE DO IN OUR CAPITALIST CAPITALS OF THE WORLD. AND BRING OUR BREAD TO THE TABLE.

YOU LAZY 'BEAST' GO...GO...AND DO YOUR PART, STOP BLAMING CAPITALISM!

YOU DONT LIKE IT ! EAT LESS! BUT DONT BLAME US IF YOU GET SLIM, SICK AND STUPID!

"THEY ARE FANTASTIC MANAGERS"

Right, they destroyed Bengal, it's textile industry and built it Britain. It looted Bengal and rest of India for 2 hundred years, it startted war against Iraq, Iran and Arab World to steal oil and it is stealing today with false pretext of WMD and so on.

First ban usary as per following teaching:

From:

http://www.henciclopedia.org.uy/autores/Laguiadelmundo/Usury.htm

'The dust of interest'

Judaism's criticisms of usury are rooted in several passages of the Old Testament in which charging interest is scorned, discouraged and prohibited. The Hebrew word for interest is neshekh, which means 'bite' (though in Leviticus tarbit and marbit are also used), and it is believed to refer to the charging of often exorbitant interest (from the debtor's perspective).

The prohibition of usury was adopted as a major campaign by the earliest Christian Church, following on from Jesus' expulsion of the money-lenders from the temple.
The decrees of the Hebrew Bible were revived and a new reference to usury in the New Testament was added. Based on the authority of those texts, the Catholic Church of the 4th century AD banned the clergy from charging interest, a rule that was later extended in the 5th century to the laity.
In the 8th century, under Charlemagne, usury was declared a criminal offense. The anti-usury movement gathered force in the late Middle Ages and reached its peak in 1311 when Pope Clement V totally banned the practice and declared null and void all secular law defending it.
....This 'demon' governs current global relations, condemning most of the world population to living under the sign of debt: i.e., each person born in Latin America owes already $1,600 in foreign debt; each individual being conceived in Sub-Saharan Africa carries the burden of a $336 debt, for something that its ancestors have long ago paid-off. In 1980 the Southern countries' debt amounted to $567 billion; since then, they have paid $3,450 billion in interests and write-offs, six times the original amount. In spite of this, that debt had quadrupled by the year 2000, reaching $2,070 billion.

"" But I’m saying a big piece missing because of which we created a lot of problems""

That's very true Mr. Yunus, i know what you are saying: "there is a big piece missing...YES IN YOUR BRAIN...which, does indeed create a lot of problems.

I tell you what causes poverty in the world:

1- PAYING MORE ATTENTION TO RELIGION THAN TO YOURSELF...AND THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU.
2- PAYING MORE ATTENTION TO WHAT OTHERS DO THAN THAT WHAT YOU ...AND YOUR COUNTRY DO.
3- CRITIZING OTHERS BUT NEVER CRITIZING YOURSELF!
4- YOUR FAULT IS NEVER YOUR FAULT...IT IS ALWAYS SOMEBODY ELSE'S FAULT.
5- NOT EVER RECONIZING THAT THE FAULT IS YOURSELF NOT OTHERS.
6- BLAMING RICH PEOPLE OR RICH COUNTRIES FOR YOUR POVERTY! AND/OR PEOPLE POVERTY.
7- STOP BEEN LAZY! STOP BLAMING THE WEATHER, THE CLIMATE AND/OR THE TEMPERATURE.
8- STOP BEEN CORRUPETD, STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT CORRUPTION AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IN YOUR RANQUES.
9- HAVE CLEAN, TRANSPERENT GOVERNMENTS, MAKE GOVERMENTS ACCOUNTABLE.
10- ALL POOR COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD HAVE CORRUPTED, UNSTABLE GOVERNMENTS...EITHER FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS...DICTATORSHIP REASONS...CORRUPTION REASONS, AND THE LSIT GOES ON.
SAY AFRICA COUNTRIES FOR INSTANCE...INSTEAD OF COLONIZATION...HIRE ENTIRE FOREIGN MANAGEMENT TEAMS FOR RUNNING THESE SO CALLED POOR COUNTRIES AND YOU WILL SEE...POVERTY VANISHES OVERNIGHT! GET RID OF LOCAL CORRUPTED GOVENMENTS, HIRE HONEST-RESPONSABLE MANAGEMENT TEAMS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO RUN THESE POOR COUNTRIES...AND YOU WILL SEE POVERTY OVER FOR GOOD. JEWS ARE FANTASTIC BRAINS...THEY COULD DO A LOT OF GOOD IN RUNNING THESE SO CALLED POOR COUNTRIES...FOR THE PEOPLES OF SUCH COUNTIRES. BILL GATES ALONE...HELP MORE POOR COUNTRIES THAN ANY OTHER SINGLE INVIDUAL IN THIS EARTH. I KNOW YOU GUYS DONT LIKE JEWS...BUT I CAN TELL YOU...THEY CAN HELP THESE SO CALLED POOR COUNTRIES BLOSSOOM!
JUST GIVE THEM THE CHANCE...I AM NOT JOKING. OR THE BRITISH...THEY ARE FANTASTIC MANAGERS, THEY CAN TRULY MAKE A COUNTRY OUT OF POVERTY. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LOOK AROUND: ALL THE PLACES THEY HAVE BEEN TOO...ARE THE WEALTHIEST PLACES ON EARTH. TO NAME A FEW: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZELAND...AND THE LEAST GOES ON.

Please excuse the typo. The work is: Free-Market Capitalism with a Soul: Capitalism and Community in the Information Age.

It may be hubris on my part but I think I have found at least an important part of what is needed to complete capitalism. That is to find ways of developing a community within and perhaps between business firms. I have written a book that I am using in my business ethics course that develops this theme. In it I try to revive Peter Drucker's idea of the plant community. It is a work I virtually self-published so it is not available online but if anyone would like a copy I can be contacted at dwennema@fontbonne.edu. Here is a short summary of Free-Market Capitalism with a Soul: Capitalism and Community un the Information Age,

The fundamental claim of this work is that the development of an information economy brings with it the need for a social setting that is best characterized as a community. For, now the knowledge of workers is the most important asset companies possess. But the knowledge of workers is most effectively applied only in a setting of free self-direction. And this implies a democratization of the workplace. This kind of social setting is one that typically raises worker morale and productivity. If workers were allowed to share in the financial gains that follow upon a rise in productivity, we face the possibility of developing high-performance companies with high wages and good working conditions. As such, it may be that the knowledge economy will allow us to have our economic cake and eat it too.

With all respect, wealth is created and distributed best across economic lines where honest government exists, where laws are created and applied equally, and epidemic corruption is controlled. Capitalism cannot exist in a vacuum, yet that fact seemingly escapes those heavy with advice but an equal absence of reality.

We have heard this before under various terms such as "capture" and "efficiency control" . What they mean is redirection of profit from those earning it to a central government . This is the heart of Islamic National Socialism . They have a cure for the poor Christians like the last national socialists had a cure for the poor Jews .

I love these thoughts by Mr. Yunus. Look at what he's saying... We have the academic discipline of economics that supposedly describes the very human activity of creating and distributing value and yet economics ignores completely the human purposes for which this valued is used. Simultaneously economics also ignores the humanity of the people who create and distribute the value and prefers to think of them as automatons because that is descriptively easier for economists. Once economic theory is opened to both of these dimensions we'll have a more user-friendly, and much less naive form of capitalism. We can still create wealth, but it will serve the creator and the user better. Remember Yunus is the genius who invented micro-lending, a practical recipe for ending poverty. The first and only recipe for ending poverty. This isn't socialism. This is 'smarts.'

I think the idea of social business can make significant contribution toward reducing poverty, providing avenues for equality, and maintaining the environment.

Yes, there are problems with using the capitalist model for social good--just as there are problems with using the models of socialism or welfare for social good. However, more discussion needs to take place on the potential contribution of social business.

I hope we can get past the anti-capitalism rhetoric taught on many university campuses. I hope we can build a variety of social business models for students to study and experiment with.

Yonkers, New York
26 January 2008

Mr. Muhammad Yunus, Nobel laureate, is correct in his opinion that there are pieces which are missing in capitalism.

Pure capitalism, both in theory and in actual practice, is simply the unrestrained pursuit of profits in a politico-economic system of prices and free markets.

Capitalism has nothing to do with the alleviation or the elimination of poverty. That is not its underlying or fundamental purpose. It is simply a system for making money without any regard for ethical or moral considerations.

Taken in this light, as it should be, pure capitalism is Hobbesian. Enterpreneurial or business life under capitalism is "short, nasty, and brutish." It is Darwinian in the sense that it goes by the unwritten rule of "the survival of the fittest.

Efficiency is the primal drive of capitalism. The weak get the short end of the stick--and they perish by the wayside as they should.

Which is why legislators in modern democratic capitalistic societies enact laws which have the clear purpose of protecting the weak and the poor and likewise mitigating the depredations of "robber barons" and those whom Theodore Roosevelt called "malefactors of great wealth."

Legislators in the underdeveloped or poor countries, which have adopted the capitalistic system, will profit from carefully examining what
these laws are with a view to adopting them for the benefit of the weak and the poor in their own societies.

The "missing pieces" Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus talks about are in these laws.

MarPatalinjug@aol.com

"Protect property and the person from illegal seizure by Government and you will solve poverty completely."

I would argue that these rights are fairly well guarded in America, but are we without poverty? This indicates that simply protecting property rights will not 'solve' poverty completely.

Use all the hackneyed political theory you want - Poverty is only solved by giving people ECONOMIC FREEDOM. Protect property and the person from illegal seizure by Government and you will solve poverty completely. Unfortunately "tradional" societies simply put a vaneer over their old feudalist societies. Instead of the nobles of old, it is now simply paternalistic bureaucrats and the interests they protect ruling in the same paternalistic, corrupt way.

Mr. Yunus clearly mention that Maybe there are other pieces missing. Other people will find it out.

Other pieces missing is simply interest free Islamic Economy, preached by Prophet Moses, Jesus and lastly Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon them all).

And the result will be as Mr. Yunus mentioned:

It’s not a single dimensional being, like make money and that’s the only thing you do. But multidimensional aspect can be accommodated by creating that type of business, the social business. And it’s a non-loss, Non-dividend Company with a social objective. So that’s a case I’m presenting – that this is what is missing in the political framework of capitalism. So that is why we have created so much of a problem around us, because these issues about environment, about poverty, about diseases, about healthcare, about nutrition – all these are ignored because the type of business we are involved with do not pay attention to that. By its very nature, by its very definition it doesn’t pay attention. So we need to have another type of business which will address these issues.”

They lend money to the poor people and make a lot of money by exploiting them

Pay attention to the innovative activities which can be used for helping poor people get out of poverty.

The moment you direct your mind to this poverty issue, the whole world will benefit from that. The poor and the number of poor will decline very sharply.

So only solution is interest free economy on the basis of Islamic Economy and Islamic Banking on the basis of profit or loss sharing, helping poor and not taking interest or only profit.

Aim must be to help poorest of poor and servicing the humanity and nothing else.