Archive for June, 2009

Another Fraudulent Bernie Bites the Dust

Nate
Jun 30 |20:16

My dad worked for MCI for most of his career which later turned into WorldCom under the regime of Bernard Ebbers. Those who do not know the story of some of the largest frauds in U.S. history should at least know the characters involved. News reports today told the sad, but conclusive tale that another Bernie has bit the dust. 

Bernie Madoff, for over 20 years, ran the largest ponzi scheme known to man and now he’s behind bars for 150 years. Sadly, 150 years may not seem like justice to those whose lives have been completely devastated by his actions. I know personally that the Bernie Ebbers fraud caused a lot of grief for WorldCom employees, including those in my family.

I listened to a heated debate on NPR this morning regarding new regulation proposals to separate the power from the money on wall street. Something has to be done. Interestingly, the warning signs are always there. It’s just that no one suspects anyone in such a position of trust to be so moronic. I guess it’s our own fault for being nieve and turning a blind eye to the facts. Let’s just hope we can all get our act together and pull our head out. 

It’s events like this that make people tight-fisted, unwilling to invest in wall street, and keep the economy from booming. It may be super cheesy to quote Uncle Ben from Spiderman, but I think it appropriate: “with great power comes great responsibility.” The problem I see is that in many instances great power reduces requirements for accountability. Such was the case with these two sleeze balls. 

 

iPhone App for Everything

Nate
Jun 19 |20:08

My brother is finishing up a degree in communications, advertising, and business. He helped create a quick video they placed on YouTube which he wanted me to post. The graphics are not very good. I guess it’s a time when it’s “the thought that counts.” He’s not in the video, but if he were, he would certainly not be included in the “I like this guy app.” :)

 

Kiva brings MicroFinance Lending to the People

Nate
Jun 10 |14:48

I just picked up an article of great interest to me on TechCrunch. Specifically because I was involved in the MicroCredit, MicroFinance Club while an undergrad at Brigham Young University. The concept of MicroFinance was originally brought about my Muhammed Unas, who later received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. 

Someone new is coming to this space. The organization is called Kiva. The TechCrunch article has some great info on the company and their efforts in MicroFinance: 

Kiva is a peer-to-peer lending site that facilitates micropayment loans between citizen lenders and extremely low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries. Through Kiva’s platform, anyone can loan $25 or more to support an entrepreneur and the specific progress of the loan can be tracked from initial funding to repayment. Upon receiving repayment, lenders can withdraw their funds from Kiva or lend again to another entrepreneur, thereby continuing the lending cycle.

In April alone, Kiva members loaned $4.5 million to entrepreneurs, a 56 percent year-over-year increase and a record month for Kiva. Since the microfinance platform’s birth in 2005, over $75 million has been loaned through Kiva.org to support more than 180,000 individuals from 44 developing countries. Kiva’s president, Premal Shah, says this new initiative to include U.S. businesses increasingly made sense as the financial markets deteriorated and traditional lending began to dry up even in the U.S.

According to Kiva, small businesses represent more than 87 percent of all businesses in the United States, and, on average, these micro-enterprises are responsible for 900,000 new jobs created per year according to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity. This number seems small to me but the impact of small businesses on job creation is clear. To make matters worse, Kiva says more than 10 million business owners faced difficulty obtaining capital—even before the credit crisis and economic slowdown.

I have always loved the concept and think it is a great way for developing nations to contribute to the impoverished countries around the world. It has that “feel good,” “philanthropic,” “altruistic” feel to you it. I can imagine that as an organization, these folks will do fine.