Bloodless Coup

Grameen Banker Wins Nobel Prize

This is a great choice for the Nobel Peace Prize:

Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Sunday, saying he hoped the award would inspire "bold initiatives" to fight poverty and eradicate the root causes of terrorism.

Yunus, 66, shared the award with his Grameen Bank for helping people rise above poverty by giving them microcredit -- small, usually unsecured loans.

"I firmly believe that we can create a poverty free world if we collectively believe in it," Yunus said after accepting the prize at City Hall in Oslo, Norway. "The only place you would be able to see poverty is in a poverty museum."

...

Grameen Bank, set up in 1983, was the first lender to provide microcredit, giving very small loans to poor Bangladeshis who did not qualify for loans from conventional banks. No collateral is needed, and repayment is based on an honor system, with a nearly 100 percent repayment rate.

I have always loved the idea behind the Grameen bank, because it shows that capitalism isn't just Wal-Mart, that it can work for people at the grassroots, and that it isn't incompatible with community, trust and reaching out to those who have little experience in markets.