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>> day-wagers are probably going to starve to death[1]. A sudden line of credit would be a boon to help them survive.

If day wagers stay out of work how can they possibly earn the money or interest required to pay the short term loan? Most day wagers have already exhausted their savings. Debt on top of debt usually means starvation in these countries.

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Well, a humane billionaire would just set very low interest and repayment terms of "when you can". In the end it would just be no different to charity. I wonder what's better, donating to the Indian version of food banks, or giving them money so they can buy food.

There are (were?) already microcredit websites where people in the developing world place loan requests like "I need a $500 loan to start a little shop", and a bit like Kickstarter, you can give them the loan, but also you accept this shop idea might not work and they would default on their loans -- and the site tells you this, so from your point of view the loan would become charity.

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