Yunus praised ... and slammed

The Time Magazine honours Muhammad Yunus as People Who Mattered: Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor, while Countercurrents.org writer Omar Tarek Chowdhury finds Yunus in secret collusion with all the ugly capitalists of the world and is all set to sell Bangladesh's poor cheaply to the global finance capital. Take your pick.

Vandana Shiva debates with Susan Davies of Grameen Foundation in Democracy Now! (also available in video) about microcredit and obliquely refers to Yunus at one time wanting to work out a joint venture with Monsanto. Shiva doesn't seem to like microcredit - it is so capitalistic, and worse that it appears to help the poor. That would rob the entire platform of the left.

While at it, you can also look at (or read) Vandana Shiva's take on farmer's suicides in India, Indo-US nuclear deal, foreign investment in retail trading in India and several other of her pet subjects.

At the other end, Jon Entine writes in American Enterprise Institute on Public Policy Research that microfinance at best can take the daily income of people from $2 to $3, whereas massive investment in building factories that can provide thousands of jobs is the way to go - because that is what happened in developed countries once upon a time.