You got to live in a poor country to understand the simple difference. These trivial sums are able to buy more capital goods than in a developed country.
A wheelbarrow is ~$2 vs ~$150. Microfinance is a game changer & its very visibly so.
Comments like yours are just so obviously from a developed country/western viewpoint because they basically assume the cost of life/goods/services is the same between the local market you live in vs the developing country with microfinance.
The basic refutation can come from a PPP basket of goods that goes even more basic to things people use every day. Flour, Chicken, i.e not a Big Mac index & not an equivalent goods-for goods comparison of the basket. There is no McDonalds in Nigeria fyi - the items of consumption are different too. The most expensive item in someone living in a developing country is typically phone airtime & never rent/mortgage which is probably your biggest outgoing in the developed world.
Actually you did make the point, which is why I alluded to it being an assumption of your point of view. The entire notion of your argument breaks down because of it.
If I was to translate it backward to something an exact equivalent - you get a $250k loan for your business/startup in SF but you spend it on feeding yourself/kids and paying rent because you absolutely have to do those things and you're struggling to pay your bills/rent & SF is damn expensive.
You don't exactly do that though with your 250k loan/predatory startup bond, though.
You're basically saying, albeit in a different frame of reference, the entity giving you the 250k loan is predatory because you are incentivised to pay your rent and you might be struggling to do so.
The assumption, once again, is the relative purchasing powers are different in the developing world vs your frame of reference.
A wheelbarrow is ~$2 vs ~$150. Microfinance is a game changer & its very visibly so.
Comments like yours are just so obviously from a developed country/western viewpoint because they basically assume the cost of life/goods/services is the same between the local market you live in vs the developing country with microfinance.
The basic refutation can come from a PPP basket of goods that goes even more basic to things people use every day. Flour, Chicken, i.e not a Big Mac index & not an equivalent goods-for goods comparison of the basket. There is no McDonalds in Nigeria fyi - the items of consumption are different too. The most expensive item in someone living in a developing country is typically phone airtime & never rent/mortgage which is probably your biggest outgoing in the developed world.