Military personnel now rely on charity
March 26, 2008 | Army News Service, alternatives, industry, media coverage, regulation | Comments (0)The Pundit has mentioned this before, but here’s another story about how, in the absence of payday loans, milititary personnel now rely on charity. We have no objection to service people getting free loans or whatever other benefits they need, but during the debate, payday loan critics said that other services–credit unions and banks–would fill the need when payday lenders were forced to stop making loans to the military. What? The critics were wrong? We’re shocked.
WSJ: Nobel Prize winner says access to credit is critical, Part Two – Charity
March 3, 2008 | Wall Street Journal, alternatives, industry | Comments (0)
Another interesting comment made by Yunus in the Journal article was his belief that charity is not the best alternative to microloans. Yunus believes that charity cannot ever match a profit making industry for efficiency and service.
Around the country, as lawmakers and payday lending critics call for a ban on payday lending, maybe they should rethink their attitude that charity is an acceptable alternative to letting people help themselves?
Here is what Yunus said:
- Mr. Yunus argues that it’s extremely difficult to bring efficiency to charity. But “the moment you bring in a business model, immediately you become concerned about the cost, about the revenue, the sustainability, the surplus generation, how to bring more efficiency, how to bring new technology, how to redesign, each year you review the whole thing . . . charity doesn’t have that package.”
