FTC Staff Issue Report on Multi-Level Marketing Income Disclosures | Federal Trade Commission
Multi-Level Marketing Income Disclosure Statements (ftc.gov)
The document (linked above) tells us nothing that we don't already know.
One thing is certain, the regulators and academic advisors who compiled this report, have not examined, or even tried to find, independent quantifiable evidence (in the form of income-tax payment receipts) proving that any 'MLM' contractor has generated an overall net-income lawfully (i.e. after the deduction of all start-up and operating costs) from regularly retailing goods/services for a profit to members of the general public (i.e. persons who were not fellow 'MLM' contractors) based entirely on value and demand.
The FTC's report is morally and intellectually feeble, because a collection of copy-cat so-called 'income opportunities' which, over decades, have produced effectively 100% overall net-loss/churn rates for countless millions of ill-informed participants around the globe, cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be described as, 'income opportunities,' in the traditional sense of these words. On the contrary, they have quite obviously been pernicious fakes based on the same, self-perpetuating design, and which have been maliciously instigated by criminals to deceive, rob and enslave vulnerable persons.
The FTC's report also confirms that the criminals peddling these copy-cat fakes have all been maliciously hiding/mystifying the truth, whilst pumping out their Big 'MLM income opportunity' Lie.
Furthermore, the chronic failure of law enforcement to recognize this vast, ongoing criminogenic phenomenon, has made it appear to both victims and casual observers, that so-called 'MLM income opportunities' have been part of a lawful industry.
David Brear (copright 2024)
Just looked at the report. Most of it is virtually incomprehensible. I assume the authors got paid by the hour?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Personally, I wouldn't pay the authors of this lengthy 'report' to sweep the floor of my office. What they have completely failed to understand is that so-called 'Multi-Level Marketing' is a crack-pot economic pseudo-science, and that all the jargon-laced propaganda being broadcast by the criminals who have peddled this distracting nonsense, has been designed to shut down the critical, and evaluative, faculties of all but the most-intellectually rigorous of observers.
DeleteQuite obviously, this FTC 'report' is far from being intellectually rigorous.
Thus, given the accumulation of evidence, in the form of hundreds of millions of ill-informed persons around the world who have been churned through essentially-identical blame-the-victim 'MLM' cultic rackets down the decades, any regulator or academic advisor who persists in the belief that 'MLM can be an economically-viable, and lawful, form of commercial activity,' is far too stupid to be taken seriously.
Once the utter absurdity of the so-called 'MLM business model,' is fully understood, anyone with a modicum of common-sense, and/or the most-rudimentary hands-on experience of commerce, ought to be immediately able to deduce that no so-called 'MLM' company can ever have been, or will ever be, found by the FTC voluntarily disclosing the true results of its economically incestuous activities and operating lawfully.
Indeed, this ongoing situation is beyond farcical, because when asked the most obvious of questions, American trade regulators, and their academic advisors, have never been able to come up with even one solitary example of a so-called 'MLM' company that would be able pass rigorous inspection.
Yet despite the accumulation of evidence proving that there can be no such creature as a 'viable and legal MLM income opportunity,' FTC officials, guided by a cabal of humourless academic advisors, came up with a truly pointless test for legality. This boils down to trying to determine on a case-by-case basis that a so-called 'MLM' company (suspected of being a pyramid scheme) has not been deriving the majority of its income lawfully from authentic retail sales (based on value and demand) to members of the general public (i.e. persons who have not been contractors of the so-called 'MLM' company).
Laughably, the FTC has listed some of the other 'pyramid scheme red flags' to look out for and has even publishing warnings that 'MLM companies have caused (and are still causing) extensive damage to consumers, because some MLM companies are pyramid schemes in disguise.' At the same time, American trade regulators have continued to repeat the Big 'MLM' Lie by insisting that 'MLM is a viable and legal branch of the direct selling industry.' Yet no one at the FTC has ever seen a shred of quantifiable evidence proving that this pernicious fairy story can be true. In fact, when asked in the most specific of terms, if they have ever seen such evidence, it has been impossible to get a truthful answer to this simple question. Another highly revealing question that FTC types have obviously shied away from answering truthfully is:
What would be your own reaction if an ill-informed vulnerable individual you care about suddenly underwent a radical personality transformation, and declared that he/she had signed up for a so-called 'MLM Income Opportunity?'
Wonderfully written Mr. Brear.
ReplyDeleteThank-you Anonymous, but there is a lot more to be said about the pernicious 'MLM' cult phenomenon, and the FTC's shameful role in helping to project an image of normality onto it.
DeleteIn the final analysis, this a mental health issue, because belief in the Big 'MLM Income Opportunity' Lie has been designed to spread like a contagion. Indeed, it is a form of (unidentified) psychological contagion.
Thus, the FTC's morally and intellectually feeble position has enabled this mass-delusion not only to spead throughout the American population, but also throughout the population of the entire planet.
Furthermore, by failing to identify the pernicious 'MLM' cult phenomenon accurately, the media has also played a shameful role in projecting an image of normality onto it.