Skip to content

Awesome Bankers?

2011-09-26 · explainer · John · 3:35 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Economics (also: Global development) · mode: Explainer · tags: fundraising ask, self promotion, community lore

John uses a made-up poster business to explain how credit crunches choke job-creating loans, worries one is coming, and argues that through Kiva Nerdfighters can be bankers who reduce world suck by lending to developing-world entrepreneurs.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; plan to talk about credit crunches and better banking; 'baking' slip; made-up Keep Calm and DFTBA poster business: jobs depending on it, needing a $100 bank loan, repaying it

  • ★★★ John says he will explain credit crunches, why they are so evil, and how Nerdfighteria could dramatically decrease world suck by becoming better bankers. — 00:00:00 · Nerdfighteria, world suck
  • ★★ Using a made-up business selling 'keep calm and DFTBA' posters, John argues a successful business idea partly supports many people's jobs (designer, paper makers, printers, shippers), as with almost every good and service. (hedged) — 00:00:29 · DFTBA Records, Keep Calm and Carry On
  • ★★ In the example, John has no spare money, borrows $100 from a bank to print posters, sells them, repays with interest, and after living costs needs another $100 loan to keep going. (hypothetical) — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — The bank refuses a second loan in a credit crunch; banks hold deposits against bank runs, leaving capital uninvested; John worries a credit crunch is coming

  • ★★★ John explains that in a credit crunch banks stop lending because, in economic panic, they must hold a much larger share of deposits to prevent bank runs, so capital that could fund job-creating ideas sits idle. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John says he is pretty worried a credit crunch is coming. (hedged) — 00:01:27

00:01:56 — Developing-world entrepreneurs depend on low-interest loans; Kiva.org lets anyone be their banker (98.5% repayment); John's own idle $913 relent; Kiva Nerdfighters group past $33,000; ask to join and lend; bankers can reduce world suck

  • ★★★ John worries most for the hundreds of millions of people who emerged from poverty in the last 40 years, since developing-world entrepreneurs depend much more on low-interest loans (taxi parts, farm animals, cosmetics, restaurant food). — 00:01:56 · extreme poverty
  • ★★★ John presents Kiva.org as letting anyone be a banker for developing-world entrepreneurs they choose, with a 98.5% chance of repayment; lenders can relend or withdraw, and earn no interest (as with banks these days). — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John has lent through Kiva since 2007 with a 100% payback rate, but found $913 he was not lending, says he had become the scared banker, and re-lent it to entrepreneurs. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John has joined the Kiva Nerdfighters group, which has loaned more than $33,000. — 00:02:55 · Bank of Nerdfighteria, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John encourages Nerdfighters to check out and join the Kiva.org Nerdfighter group and lend, from as little as $25, saying they can do even better. — 00:02:55 · Bank of Nerdfighteria, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John concludes that bankers can reduce world suck and that we can be bankers, facilitating sustainable economic growth in the developing world. — 00:02:55 · world suck

00:03:24 — Sign-off; PS: the Keep Calm and DFTBA posters are really for sale at DFTBA.com

Humor (significant)

  • John says he is bad at baking, then asks whether he said baking or banking. — 00:00:00

    “I don't know, I'm bad at both.”

  • John explains his money problem: he has a baby, and his money becomes food. — 00:00:29

    “Essentially, all my money is getting pooped out”

  • The bank refuses the ruggedly handsome poster guy a second loan. — 00:01:27

    “Do I need to unbutton a button for you?”

  • John says the most exciting part of Kiva is getting to be an awesome banker. — 00:02:55

    “There's a phrase you don't hear much anymore.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Bank of Nerdfighteria · credit crunch · Keep Calm and DFTBA poster · Kiva · microfinance

Also: bank run · DFTBA · DFTBA Records · doobly-doo · extreme poverty · Henry Green · world suck

Also centred on Kiva: June 28: How to Be a Microfinancier · How to be a Microfinancier Part 2 · Brotherhood 2.0: July 2nd: The Law of Compound Nerdfighting · October 24th: RANDOM NERDFIGHTING · Puppy Elephant Defends Capitalism · The Bank of Nerdfighteria

Also centred on microfinance: June 28: How to Be a Microfinancier · How to be a Microfinancier Part 2 · Puppy Elephant Defends Capitalism · Economics and Dentistry: YOUTUBE'S FAVORITE TOPICS

← Previous: The Improbability of Place - Thoughts from the San Juans · Next → Cup Stacking and Glasses Picking