A recent post on TechCrunch talks about a backlash against micro-loan site Kiva's decision to open up its lending service to allow funding to be made to people in the US.
"Kiva’s stated mission is “to connect people through lending for the
sake of alleviating poverty.” The anti-U.S. lenders claim that lending
to U.S. entrepreneurs doesn’t alleviate poverty because Americans
aren’t living in true poverty, compared to people in underdeveloped
countries."
While I totally agree that in real terms, you can hardly say that there would be many (if indeed, any) people living in the US that are in poverty when compared to people elsewhere in the world, I don't think it's that simple.
I'd suggest that anyone that thinks that it is should read Paul Farmer's Infections and Inequalities before making any judgment.
(Kiva was kind enough to give me $100 credit a number of years ago, so I'm an active user.)
