In a message dated 98-08-17 03:28:57 EDT, you write:
<< it doesn't help in any way. i know of a pyramid scam in germany (where
pyramid schemes are not allowed by the government) where they covered
the systems by trading appartment shares.
this was also quite a big company, they made meeting-parties with the
customers and alike.
and all of a sudden, the head dissappeared with the money :).
everyone who still falls for stuff like this truly deserves having lost his money.
get some tech stocks if you want to make money fast...
yours
boris >>
Pyramids are simple and work if done right, there's a lot of people that scam others, and theres a few good companies that everyone helps out everyone else, and have been for years. I think they're a good idea, it redistributes the wealth, and in many cases works out. Lets say you pay $60 to join (which goes to those above you, the upline), and a portion of money from everyone (up to a certain amount) in your downline's initial payment goes to you, and others in your downline and upline, depending on the source, you end up with a good sum of money. This money can come in every month (from $50 to a few hundred? perhaps thousands) if everyone pays a monthly fee, which is only required if you have the downline to cover it. This is all moderated by an overhead company, who needs to be trusted, and would retain a small percentage for operating fees (they're main money coming from the same way your's is). Everyone is the head of their own pyramid, the scams come from the greed in the beginning, or people caught at the end of a shutdown of the company. These are not called pyramids, and are not illegal, if there is a product in exchange for the initial payment. The deal is, you have to convince people to join and do the same thing you're doing. I dunno, thats just an outline of the impression I get. Seems like companies with good products stay around for much longer, and are more successful. The idea seems like, you get 3 friends to join, they get 3 friends, and they get 3 friends, so on.. and if it happens, you get paid a lot of money, and if everyone sticks around, you get more. Some sense tells me that it wont work, because if you follow the line it grows to infinity, and theres not an infinite amount of people, but then again, that plays into the redistribution of wealth, and one person doesnt need an infinite amount, only a few dozen.
Danny