A colleague brought his PSVR into work today; I got to fiddle with Job Simulator for 7-8 minutes. Overall the immersion, responsiveness, and visual fidelity seemed really great. It was super fun ~ though it left me feeling a bit wobbly for 30-40 minutes
(Not really a game but...) After years and years of friends badgering me to get one I finally picked up a 360 on Black Friday... Even with discounts I regret the purchase - it just collects dust.
@actionTACO: I appreciate your skepticism - you've got your numbers mostly accurate but I think your conclusions are incorrect. Honestly I've even seen lenders with higher "Portfolio Yields", as high as 86%, which is really crazy high but the truth is:
Kiva lenders like me can (and do) choose which field partner we work with if we want to avoid the high interest guys. I don't think about it too much but looking through my portfolio most of the 21 I've funded are in the 19% range... Hell, that's about what my credit card interest rate is.
These microlenders are tiny, they need to charge a lot to sustain themselves especially supporting the high default risk group that they do.
Often these microlenders are the only available credit to these people, big banks can't stomach the risk or don't think extending to less developed places is worth their money. If I were poor and had to choose between 36% interest on a business loan with a chance of giving my children an education or no loan... I'd gladly take the loan.
Also how do these loans do anything but help women? I've loaned to over 60% women and the reports of their success have been great. You want them to get back to making babies and cooking supper? :-/
I don't claim that microlending is a silver bullet or that it even works in all places but for many working-poor it's just the chance they need to get a leg up.
@Alex_Murphy: It could be a $5000 loan in total but people lend as a team, almost always $25 each. That way, no one person gets stuck with an overwhelming loss if the borrower defaults - but like I said above, they tend to default very infrequently. Also I don't think Kiva will fund a hitman. ;-)
@SexualBubblegumX: Not until it gets legalized, taxed and society can exonerate the small-time drug dealers filling our expensive, overflowing prisons.
@shua310: Great points. The awesome thing about the Kiva loans in particular is that as they get paid back you can either re-loan the money or withdrawal it. In that sense the money I put in now will get re-loaned again in 6-12 months - so that's definitely sustainable. As for the other stuff I think I can sustain it all - but you've given me good motivation to make sure I'm being realistic and the most responsible I can be.
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