Welfare

This week we discussed Welfare with the SCH 101 class.  This is always fun since the political leanings of students in class are in a spectrum from wide left to wide right and everything in between.  The question remains, what do to about problems of poverty in our country and worldwide?  So - for the students - here are two options I support that attack poverty problems from different points of view:

1.  Kiva -- This is for my more conservative students.  The point of Kiva is to loan money in units of $25 to people in third world countries with poor banking systems so that they can improve their lives and pay back the loans.  When you make the loan, you decide who to loan the money to based on what the money will be used for (supplies, education, etc.).  Then once you are paid back $25 you can loan it out again.

2.  Give Directly -- This is for my more liberal students. The point of Give Directly is to find the poorest of the poor in Kenya.  One of the amazing things about Kenya is that they don't have ATMs, but they have bypassed this entirely to use cheap cell phones to transfer money.  Once Give Directly has identified these poor, they give them money directly to use as they see fit.  The ideas is that the poor really know what will benefit them. "The most frequent self-reported use of funds is purchasing a metal roof. We estimate the annual rate of return on on metal as opposed to thatch roofing to be 15%-20%, suggesting this is an attractive investment."

I challenge the Scholars students to hold some fund raisers and then use this money to improve the life of someone who lives in abject poverty.  It is up to the Scholars to decide whether to go the conservative path or the liberal path.