CR Linefeed

Yesterday I loaned some money through Kiva.  In case you’ve not heard of this, it is a scheme whereby people with a little spare cash can make small loans to people in the developing world.  So you send off $25 (along with a bunch of other people) to help someone buy stock for their small shop or whatever.  You don’t get any interest, but the vast majority of loans are paid back in full.  So all you stand to lose is the interest you could have gain from investing it elsewhere.  Now with interest rates at record lows, that means it isn’t costing much.

Discussing this with Beth this morning she joked that people in this country would be needing these sorts of loans soon.  This was just before a news item on the possibility of the government giving loans to the car industry to keep them afloat.  So the government is considering giving our money as a business loan anyway.  This got me thinking.  Maybe they should follow Kiva’s example and set up a micro-financing system where ordinary individuals can decide how much money they fancy giving to Jaguar/Land Rover.  If enough people think it is a good idea and are confident it’s a good investment, then they’ll get their bailout loan.  If not, they won’t.  Direct democracy in action!

Personally I feel more confident giving my money to a Lebanese plumber than to a car company at this point in time.  But then maybe I’m just a pessimist?