Microloans 2: Electric Boogaloo

Back in 2005, Kiva was launched. It was the first microloan organization to get mass publicity, and many people signed up and participated ­— including me. Unfortunately, in 2009 it emerged that Kiva was being dishonest — while they encouraged lenders to browse the site, pick businesses and allocate funds, none of that made any difference at all. All the lending was already carried out before the businesses in question ever appeared on the site.