Google.org Working to Reduce Poverty

Props to the Google.org Foundation for supporting two leading market-based solutions to global poverty, The Acumen Fund and Technoserve. From what I can tell these organizations are doing some great things... while integrating entrepreneurialism right into the process. Sergey and Larry have just moved up a notch in my rankings of cool people.

From Acumen's web site:
Acumen Fund operates like a venture capital firm for the poor, providing resources, both financial--in the form of loans, equity investments and occasional grants--and intellectual capital. To do this, we:

• Take a few big bets
• Focus on sustainability and scale.
• Build effective networks
• Provide financing and management expertise
• Demand accountability
• Measure the results

From TechnoServe's web site:
How can poor nations compete against the forces of globalization? How do you rebuild an economy destroyed by war? How do you solve the global coffee crisis? TechnoServe has answers. Our answers are not based on wishful thinking, they are based on what works. TechnoServe is establishing industries in developing nations that can compete and thrive in a global free marketplace. We are successfully rebuilding sectors of economies ravaged by conflict, and providing economic improvements for coffee growers in crisis.

The Relative Value of 37 Million Americans Against 3000 Million Non-Americans

In a Connecticut Journal discussing John Edwards' recent visit to the Yale campus to discuss poverty, Edwards is quoted as saying:

"Poverty is the great moral issue in America... There are 37 million Americans in poverty and there are 1 million more people in poverty now than last year. There is economic recovery in America for people with capital, but not for working people. They are being squeezed by higher fuel prices, higher housing costs."

I again commend Edwards for discussing the issue and proposing solutions--but must repeat my question: why not also mention the 3 billion people that live in real poverty (less than $2 per day) in the world today? On one hand you have 37 million individuals living under $15 per day (a critical issue that must be addressed of course) and on the other you have 3000 million individuals living on under $2 per day outside of the United States that go nearly unmentioned. Just some food for thought.