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Grameen America and ‘gravitating towards lethargy’

Hayley Richardson | Feb 19th, 2008 | Topics: | Region: | Cities: | 1

I was recently fortunate enough to see Dr. Muhammed Yunus at the Free Library in Philadelphia.  The Bangladeshi founder of the Grameen Bank and recent Nobel Prize winner was there to discuss his new book, “Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism.”  Before an audience primarily composed of progressive Wharton students, he railed against capitalism in its raw form, arguing that it does little to further social equality.  What he need instead is a new ethos based on socially-minded businesses, one that takes into account the unique potential for every human being.

The Grameen Bank began as a service for the rural poor in Bangladesh that offered small loans to people no bank would touch. It now has 7 million borrowers, and a 98 percent return rate, both of which are astounding numbers. It’s also a radically expanding program, being replicated in many different countries. Hearing these statistics while enveloped in Yunus’s gentle lilt, it’s hard not to feel like something extraordinary is happening. Something that’s giving capitalism as we know it the middle finger. And it’s coming to the United States.

In September, Yunus opened the first American branch of the Grameen Bank. And he located it in the most diverse neighborhood in the world, Jackson Heights, Queens. The program will cater to poor, aspiring entrepreneurs in the city, many of whom are immigrants. It will particularly target those whose lives could be radically altered by access to a small loan.

Could this model really work in the United States? Will we see housing projects transformed into thriving entrepreneurial zones? Ice cream carts turned into free standing stores? An end to poverty as we know it?

My fear is that the poor in the United States have it just good enough to gravitate towards lethargy, which would no doubt be anathema to the program.  And it’s a problem that Grameen acknowledges. The manager of Grameen America points out on the program’s website that “I was not prepared for the different levels of poverty that exist between America and everywhere else I have worked. The poor people I talked to in the U.S. often make more than the average worker in Bangladesh and the Dominican Republic. Quality of life is better among America’s poor.” Essentially, the social safety net and the ability of cheap goods work in tandem to keep people unmotivated. They’re just not hungry for opportunity the same way a beggar in Dhaka would be.

And then there’s the whole issue of revolution, the kick in the ass that capitalism so desperately needs. Maybe this time around will be different, but as Joan Didion so eloquently wrote in 1967, the problem is that the have-nots mainly aspire to having, not in taking up arms with their fellow prols.

It’ll be interesting to see where this goes.

jeffrey hill hayley richardson bangladesh queens jackson heights dominican republic grameen america lethargy muhammed yunus joan didion