I posted a while ago about making a micro loan via Kiva.com. Doing this has been very educational for me. It has helped me understand what microloans really do and what the misconception is. I have received a few repayments already, in fact, I have over half the loan amount repaid. I have to be honest, it has not been as fun or exciting to have this loan out as I thought. The web site is great and I even found a nice Windows Phone 7 app that helps me monitor and track my account. I was really hoping to get feedback from the person I loaned the money to but I have not heard anything.

During the time of having the loan out I was more attune with things I saw and heard about microfinance. I listen to a podcast called EconTalk which is a great educational podcast on economics. There was a recent podcast about microfinance that was interesting. The research currently doesn’t show that microfinance has any impact on lifting people out of poverty.

“However, there are surprisingly few credible estimates of the extent to which microcredit actually reduces poverty.”

“The most-cited source of evidence on the impacts of microfinance is the early set of studies collected by David Hulme and Paul Mosley (1996). The findings of these studies are provocative: poor households do not benefit from microfinance; it is only non-poor borrowers (with incomes above poverty lines) who can do well with microfinance and enjoy sizable positive impacts. More troubling is the finding that a vast majority of those with starting incomes below the poverty line actually ended up with less incremental income after getting micro-loans, as compared to a control group which did not get such loans.”

- UN : Microfinance as a Poverty Reduction Tool

This is interesting because people have called microfinance the cure to poverty. As in most problems in life, poverty is more complex than peoples access to money. Economics is not a very perspicuous issue. I am not saying it is an activity we should not engage in, and I am not ready to pull my money from Kiva yet. Microfinance may be a tool in helping but it alone cannot solve poverty. While the industry of microfinance may not be able to cure poverty it has at least helped us understand poverty a little better, and that helps us better understand the issue.

In recent years there have been a few companies spring up that focus on microloans or microcredit. The companies focus on letting anyone provide small loans to people around the world. I have loved this idea for a long time and figured it was time to put my money where my mouth is. So I looked into Kiva. The loans start at small amounts, say $25 dollars. Kiva is one of the biggest players in the business and looks to have had a lot of success. You can even create groups with them and loan money on behalf of a group.

I created an account and loaned my first $25 to a Morena Lampictoc in the Philippines. My loan actually helped complete her loan request which felt great!

I was in the Philippines a little over a year ago. I was really impressed with the people but also impacted by the poverty in that country. It was really because of that experience I decided to pick someone in the Philippines.

I will be documenting my experience with this process. Through documenting the process I hope to not only encourage myself to do more of it, but also encourage others to donate.

Kiva has 126 field partners who help validate and vet those asking for money and actually have a really high return rate. Keep in mind this is not something you do for a financial investment. The money is loaned at 0% interest. It really is a great way to fight poverty around the world with the free market and most people’s desire to help others.

For now Morena can order some more feed for her pigs and hopefully grow her business to feed more people. Repayments are suppose to start in May. I am excited to see the money come back so I can feel confident in this process and send the money out again in another investment!

It does not matter who you talk to, you have probably had a conversation about the struggles of our youth today. Rather it is the rate of childhood obesity tripling in the past 30 years or movements to start children’s schooling at the age of 3, in some misguided effort to correct our education problems. There is talk in all groups in America about the struggles of our youth. Social problems rarely have simple answers. A recent report from USA Today called out a glaring trend in our society.

Out of wedlock births in the US have gone from 5.3% in 1960 to 41% in 2009. Almost 50% of our children are born out of wedlock! I believe the family is the most basic structure of a society. The family is where children learn some of the most basic concepts of how to work in a society. The family is where children gain support and encouragement. When close to 50% of all children are born out of wedlock and no longer have the full marital level of support in the family, something is wrong.

There have been many studies that show children do better throughout their school years when they have the support of an intact family. Children with non-intact families have a higher rate of misbehavior, dropping out of school and violence.

This is not to say all children in single family homes will struggle and fail. It does not mean no child from an intact family will not struggle or fail. There are many single parents working very hard and raising wonderful kids. It just means the odds are against them. We need to understand the reason why this number is raising so quickly. Have our values really changed this much? Do we fully understand the impact of the change of this value? 41% of parents in our society are now in a more difficult position to raise their child, and the odds are against them. This means we will have more kids who have discipline issues at school, drop out of school or engage in violent behavior. If we want to help solve some of the issues we see in our society, we need more families on the rights side of these statistics.

The human being has an infinite capacity for desiring more. This is both good and dangerous. This desire motivates our ambition and compels us to innovate and find better ways to live our lives. However, this powerful force can trick us into always being fixated on what we do not have and take for granted that which we do have. Being fixated in such a way acts as a cancer to our ability to be grateful and gratitude is the supreme attribute that determines our happiness.

How do we then remain in control of these forces and allow them to enrichen our lives without sabotaging our joy? I would like to offer one answer I have used in my life to my great benefit.

In my youth (during college to be specific) a friend told me to define success for myself and write it down. He told me to be specific; answer the questions that I think mattered for me to perceive myself as being successful. How much money would I make? What kind of car would I drive? What kind of family would I have? How big would my yard be; would I have a dog; where would I travel; what would my habits be – and on and on. So I did. I tried to be as specific as possible. I defined all sorts of things, many you would expect, some you wouldn’t and some that even seem silly in hindsight. I wrote it all down in my journal when I was about 24 years old.

Now, almost a decade and a half later, I look back and review the list (and have done so many times) I have been able to check-off items on the list as they were accomplished. My list, which filled multiple pages, now has the majority of items checked. Some items that required a bit of faith to accomplish – have a son – have a daughter – marry a wonderful woman that would be a good mother and amazing spouse – are now all checked. Others that simply required planning are also checked – own a brand new car – go on a cruise. And some that to many might seem silly – own a house that allows me to put up a Christmas tree in the front room so it can be seen from the street outside – but give me much joy are also checked.

I still want more, lots more, and I won’t stop striving for it all. But having this list has protected me from the unconscious impulse to continually move my target for success and thereby never obtain it. This definition of success which I made back in college has enabled me to experience much happiness: first in knowing what I am striving for, second in watching myself accomplish certain things, and also (and perhaps most important) keep clear in my mind the distinction between those things that I need (subjectively) and those things that I want above and beyond; and all the while not allow the things I still want to rob me of the joy in the things that I declared I needed and have subsequently obtained.

Recently at a dinner party some friends and I got talking politics. I know, dangerous. Yes, dangerous but important. I do not subscribe to abstinence when it comes to talking about two very important issues of life: politics and religion. We will save religion for another article. The trick is to control ones emotions so that all voices can be heard and that anger and contention is not introduced. Easier said than done perhaps, but critical. Remember these are all my friends and no difference of political opinion is worth wrecking the relationship over.

One friend, whose political stance I didn’t know well, asked me the question: “Yeah, but what laws have actually affected you personally, other than tax law.” He conceded the most obvious point, taxes. This fellow, who I have great affection for and consider a wonderful friend recently moved from the Pacific Northwest and therefore I might assume he is a little more left leaning than I am, however we share the same religious foundation and therefore I suppose we don’t differ radically, but who knows.

Anyway, I answered the question:

1. Laws that coupled health care with employers and forever bound my health insurance options to my employment options. This is totally absurd. My employer should have nothing to do with it. The system should function more like the auto insurance system does, private and under my control.
2. ObamaCare which has recently made my employers healthcare costs climb and which has required them to change from a magnificent 100% coverage plan with a $15 co-pay to a plan of 80/20 split with a deductible and co-pay.
3. ObamaCare which has taken away my freedom to choose not to be insured if I so desired. Now choosing not to have health insurance can result in a crippling fine and even prison.
4. McCain Feingold campaign finance reform, although now overturned, restricted my right to free speech and in so doing didn’t accomplish what it intended but instead drove political funds into private entities that are not required (and appropriately so) to disclose where they get their money.
5. Laws that bloat and protect public employee pension programs at the expense of the rest of the state budgets which results in year over year budget cuts to the schools my children attend.
6. Restrictions on the 2nd amendment which do not allow me to carry a firearm into certain areas of the country. Most notably schools, which leaves them extremely vulnerable and void of anyone that could respond instantly to an attack.
7. Building permit laws which require that I pay the State money to get a permit to build anything on my land if it is over 9 feet tall. Even if is a swing set, or a shed for my lawnmower.
8. Seat belt laws, bike helmet laws: In understand these laws are well intentioned and I understand them in the case of protecting minors, but for adults we should be free to make our own choice on these matters and not be threatened by a powerful state with fines and or jail time.
9. And of course the tax law, which he conceded, that takes about 40% of my income away by force and threat of imprisonment.
10. And there are many others…

Not everything that is good should be mandated by law, and not everything that is bad should be restricted by law. If fact most of them shouldn’t be. But let’s go back and examine the question for a moment: “What laws have affected you personally?” The implication is that if a law doesn’t affect me personally then why should I care? I think this is the wrong way to think about it. The laws allowing slavery would not have affected me personally but you better believe I would be adamantly apposed to them. They affect others and the society I live in, and my children live in. I want America to be as biased towards individual freedom as possible – for all of it’s citizens, and only when there is a clear and present danger should the State and it’s police step in and create a law or take action to protect and/or control us.

Laws prohibiting murder, stealing, arson, and slander, for example are appropriate because they inflict upon another's unalienable rights of life, liberty, and private property. Notice I didn’t complain about the speed limit laws, if there were fewer cars in the country, or they could only go 35 MPH, then I would say we don’t need them. But the danger is clear when you have so many and deaths because of them are so prevalent.

The immigration laws, or lack of them, or lack of their enforcement don’t affect me personally (not yet) because of where I live. (I admit that I could argue this the other way too, but for now I will take this approach). I believe that immigration is a beautiful thing that adds to the richness and renewal of our Country; but only when it is done with order. The chaotic mess we have now threatens us organizationally. It’s not because of their culture or country of origin. It’s simply because we have no idea what is really happening and that is not a force for good for any of us. We need lots of immigration, much more than our legal system allows for right now. But we don’t need any illegal immigration. It disrupts society and sets us all at odds with one another and creates disadvantages that are not helpful. We should have tight control on illegal immigration and a lenient policy of legal immigration. Basically, if you don’t have criminal history, and can speak basic English, then you should be allowed in. I think the language component is critical because nothing divides people faster than the inability to communicate.

But this is not an article on immigration, or any other specific law. What I am talking about is, when are laws appropriate? Our founders setup a system of government that restricted the it to specific enumerated powers and explicitly stated that all other un-enumerated rights are in the hands of the people. The problem has been that we the people have been too egger to delegate our powers to the state and trust them to tell us how to live our lives. In some cases we delegate powers that we in fact do not have and thereby give the government powers they should have never been given because we did not have them in the first place.

The God of heaven gave us three gifts at the dawn of time: first LIFE, second AGENCY (or the ability to choose) and a Plan for Happiness when he reveled his will through religion. I find it no accident that our Founding Fathers declared three divinely given rights that this country would be founded upon: LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. We must error on the side of individual liberty and delegate that sacred gift to the State only when there is a clear and present need to do so. Forfeiture of this power without sufficient cause will bind our ability to grow as individuals and retard our capability to achieve great things in the future.