Spinning the Noble Peace Prize from critique to panacea

Big props to Noble Peace Prize winner Doctor Muhammand Yunus of the Grameen Bank, who in the above video observed that "poverty is not caused by the poor people, poverty is the system we've built, poverty is caused by the policies we pursue."

Unfortunately, this message isn't getting through the political-media spin cycle. From Hillary Clinton to Paul Wolfowitz, from The New York Times to the blogosphere, the Grameen Bank's recent recognition isn't seen as a critique of capitalism, corporations and competition, but rather as a justification for its existence.

Only Walden Bello, writing in The Nation, questions this party line.

"The best way we can honor Muhammad Yunus is to say, Yes, he deserves the Nobel Prize for helping so many women cope with poverty. His boosters discredit this great honor and engage in hyperbole when they claim he has invented a new compassionate form of capitalism--social capitalism, or 'social entrepreneurship' -- that will be the magic bullet to end poverty and promote development."