PT Barnum Was Right

There really is one born every minute.

Over at FraudFiles Blog, forensic accountant Tracy Coenan's hobby of exposing the fundamental problems with MLM schemes always makes for interesting reading.

Almost as interesting, but far more tragic (in a humorous way) are the comments left by MLM shills that attempt to argue with her logic. Inevitably, they demonstrate a complete inability to think clearly, never mind articulate a coherent point of view. Witness the following debate points left by various MLM clowns from Amway/Quixtar, United First Financial, Primerica, MovaVie, et al. who've visted her site:

covered247 Says: 03 Nov 08 at 2:05 pm

by the way, I bank with Wachovia and they offer me $25 for every customer that I refer (recruit) to open an account with them…….hmmmmmmmmm guess the banks are Pyramid schems also. I’ve also noticed that the only one that makes all the money at my JOB is the CEO at my company, while the pions do all the hard work

Sean Says: 23 May 08 at 7:35 pm
Just one quick question, I’ve studied alot of fortune 500 companies, MLM’s, and so for. Every one of them is set up the same exact way. The guy at the top makes the most money.

Mone't Says: 21 Oct 08 at 3:38 pm

HEY SOMEONE HAS TO SERVE ME MY FRY’S RIGHT? LOL
BTW YOUR TELLING ME YOU DONT FORK MONEY OVER AT WORK? TAXES!! LOL OVER 400 A MONTH FOR MOST. ? LOL YOU OWN A BUSINESS RIGHT OW MUCH DID IT COST YOU? HOW MUCH ARE YOU “SHELLING OUT ” THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

Really, you could spend all day cataloguing boneheaded comments like that. Ms. Coenan has far more patience than I do, to actually respond politely to all the idiot comments left on her site.

It's amazing how many sockpuppets rely on ad hominems and syllogisms, yet can't spell them.

I've got a question: if all these schemes are such gateways to riches, where are all the MLM millionaires? Not the criminals who started the ball rolling, where are the people who built their fortune in one of these "business opportunities?"

That's easy, they don't exist.

As I commented on her site, I had a family member who was a lifelong rainbow chaser in MLM schemes. At family gatherings they fronted all the time about how great they were doing, and endlessly attempted to recruit.

When they passed away, I had to sort through their personal documents, much of which needed to be shredded as they were just old statements that weren’t relevant to the estate.

The only thing sadder than the staggering collection of “Overdue Account - Final Notice” credit card letters was the collection of years of monthly downline statements. On a good month they were pulling in $50-150 from whichever scheme they were mixed up in at the time, and spending 2-3x that or more on the mandatory product purchases.

That's a pretty sad testament of your life to leave behind, if you ask me.

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