Abstract. Micro-finance is a left wing attack on the free enterprise system; as such, it ought to be opposed by all freedom lovers, at least in its present format. Other baggage weighing it down is, if not absolute fraud, then, what might well be considered at least serious chicanery. A further criticism is the cult-like behavior now surrounding it. The present paper offers a critique of it, and thus constitutes a defense of private markets. This claim is a matter of prudential judgment, not praxeology. Micro-finance constitutes an unwarranted attack on the free enterprise system; it relies on a philosophy of positive rights. There are other better ways to “cure poverty” than this misbegotten scheme. This initiative, paradoxically, exacerbates impoverishment by placing investment resources in hands less capable of making it grow than would otherwise be the case. (pp. 57–75)

JEL: D14, G2, R51

Keywords: Yunus, micro-finance, market, enterprise, positive, right