A Simple and Funny Lesson On Capitalism
Capitalism, sometimes called Wall Street, works thusly, from this hilarious article by Joel Stein. For the record, I think kiva is a good idea, so long as the lender remains a SILENT partner!
Cupcake Kings Go Global, With a Little Help From Joel
By Joel Stein Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008
Anyone can lend money; I am able to lend genius. So when I started making small loans to Third World entrepreneurs through the nonprofit website kiva.org I felt as though I wasn’t doing enough. That’s why a few weeks after I sent $25 to a baker in Nicaragua, I decided I needed to stop being a silent partner and start calling him all the time with my ideas.
Unfortunately, Freddy Antonio Castillo Luna doesn’t have e-mail or a phone in his bakery-home outside Managua. So I had to get a Kiva volunteer to go there with a cell phone and translate. My first suggestion was to change the name of the place from the Little Mango Bakery to the far more compelling Joel and Freddy’s Extreme Cupcakery. I thought the bakery should switch its focus from empanadas and breadsticks to extreme cupcakes, for which we would charge $4 apiece. I would have my loan repaid in five cupcakes, assuming generous tipping.
