Comments for How Brazil Has Learned Bangladesh's Microcredit Lesson at http://www.brazzilmag.com , comment 0 to 1 out of 1 comments http://www.brazzilmag.com Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:07:53 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/9019/1/#pc_12701 Dear Michael, Thanks for this balanced posting but I think you give to too much credit to the work of Accion (especially now after Compartamos). But in any case, what I wanted to point out was that when Yunus promotes that idea of a totally privatised welfare system he does no mean just privatised. Now there is a whole lot of difference between privatised as we know it (greed driven) and socially minded privatised as Yunus has tried to demonstrate. I dont think making money by investing in Microfinance stock while urging the investee institution to maintain high interest rates as Accion has done is the right thing. Among a lot of other reasons, and as you state very well one of the reasons for the hype around microfinance is the absence of a clear alternative solution. At the macro level I believe it would require those of us at the top of the consumption pyramid to become more like the poor i.e. move a bit downthe pyramid while the poor move upwards...eventually ending up with a flatter structure than a pyramid. Give it a thought! - Shivendra Sharma Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:20:51 +0100