Waxing moral in polite company

Financial Times:

Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate and founder of the microcredit pioneering Grameen Bank, has called for an overhaul of the global financial system to make services available to the very poor.

Problems such as poverty and food security could be tackled using a non-profit business model, the Bangladeshi economist told an audience in Bangkok.

Well, sure. But problems such as poverty and food security could also be tackled using policies which undercut "backward" local farming and "empower" people into sweatshops, where they can enjoy depending on someone else -- whatever this entails -- rather than providing for themselves. This process is called "lifting millions of people out of poverty" by anyone hoping to make money from it.

It should also be noted that problems such as poverty and food security could be tackled using policies which the affected groups endorse, or even administer themselves. (I shouldn't say this too loud, but sometimes people expect their own government to bear some responsibility for what they want!) Yeah, good luck with that, dude!