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The Capitalist Pyramid Scheme | intexile's blog | blogs | Industrial Workers of the World Some capitalist apologists like to point out that using a pyramid as a metaphor oversimplifies the situation, because there are workers who also own (a largely insignificant amount of) stocks and bonds, and therefore they may be at the bottom of one pyramid while also being at or near the top of other pyramids. Pyramids are to an extent, stable, but that stability is a stability of equilibrium, rather than a static stability (meaning that the structure is maintained regardless of what happens to its component parts, even if it means that a vast majority of the parts are used, abused, and then replaced unceremoniously). Pyramids offer no such freedom for the vast majority at or near the foundation, nor is there really much peace of mind in backstabbing one’s way to the top (and most never succeed in that course anyway). www.iww.org /en/node/1228   (1634 words)

Pyramid scheme Pyramid schemes have existed for at least a century. Particularly notorious were the MMM Pyramid schemes in Russia and pyramid schemes in Albania. Pyramid schemes are representative of an unsustainable economic model, due to market saturation. www.brainyencyclopedia.com /encyclopedia/p/py/pyramid_scheme.html   (1665 words)

Pyramid scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Very large scale pyramid schemes were initiated in post-Soviet states, where people had little familiarity with the stock market and were led to believe that returns in excess of 1000% are feasible. Though not a pyramid scheme in the strictest sense, the infamous Ponzi Scheme of Charles Ponzi deserves mention here, due to some similarities. Cockeyed.com presents: Pyramid Schemes - A thorough description of the 8-ball model and matrix schemes which is a close cousin to pyramid schemes. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Pyramid_scheme   (1822 words)

Ponzi scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A pyramid scheme is a form of fraud similar in some ways to a Ponzi scheme, relying as it does on a disbelief in financial reality, including the hope of an extremely high rate of return. A pyramid scheme is bound to collapse a lot faster, simply because of the demand for exponential increases in participants to sustain it (Ponzi schemes can survive simply by getting most participants to "reinvest" their money, with a relatively small number of new participants). The eponymous scheme was orchestrated by Charles Ponzi, who went from anonymity to being a well-known Boston millionaire in six months using such a scheme in 1920. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Ponzi_scheme   (3290 words)

Pyramid Schemes, Ponzi Schemes, and Other Frauds Pyramid schemes are prohibited by the laws of the United States of America, by the laws of each of the fifty individual states, and by the laws of most other nations. These schemes usually collapse much more quickly than regular pyramid schemes, because of their dependence on the administrator, who is easily identified and turned in to proper law-enforcement authorities. Ponzi schemes are similar to pyramid schemes, but differ in that Ponzi schemes are operated by a central company or person, who may or may not be making other false claims about how the money is being invested, and where the returns are coming from. members.impulse.net /~thebob/Pyramid.html   (3278 words)

pyramid schemes, chain letters and Ponzi schemes A pyramid scheme is called a pyramid scheme because of the shape of a pyramid: a three dimensional triangle. If a pyramid were started by a human being at the top with just 10 people beneath him, and 100 beneath them, and 1000 beneath them, etc., the pyramid would involve everyone on earth in just ten layers of people with one con man on top. The police pyramid schemes are called "investment clubs" and have attractive names such as "The Friendship Investment Club" and "A Gift Network." They're sold to investors with the assurance that they are perfectly legal, approved by the IRS or a CPA, and that they definitely are not a pyramid scheme. www.skepdic.com /pyramid.html   (1840 words)

Don't Get Caught in a Pyramid Scheme Pyramid schemes are illegal in New York State, as well as in many other states. Pyramid schemes are doomed to fail because their success depends on the ability to recruit more and more investors. There are three basic categories of people who invest in pyramid schemes: those who participate out of greed; those who are misled into thinking that they are joining an "investment club" or a "gift program"; and those who believe that the products or services are legitimate. www.oag.state.ny.us /investors/pyramid.html   (1389 words)

Pyramid scheme Information Very large scale pyramid schemes were initiated in post-Soviet states, where people had little familiarity with the stock market and were led to believe that returns in excess of 1000% are feasible. Particularly notorious were the MMM Pyramid schemes in Russia and pyramid schemes in Albania. The key distinction between these schemes and legitimate MLM businesses is that in the latter cases a meaningful income can be earned solely from the sales of the associated product or service to customers who are not themselves enrolled in the scheme. www.bookrags.com /wiki/Pyramid_scheme   (2091 words)

MONEYWEB - Solid information for the layman, speculations and fun for the professional and informed investor. Huge ... Pyramid scams, pyramid selling and MLM (Multi Level Marketing) schemes are the subject of much public confusion, to the financial gain of a few con men and the loss of many ordinary people. The scheme may be incorporated as a business (a mistake as it makes it easier for the DTI to close it), or they might avoid that trap and be structured in another way, such as a club. A pyramid presentation may take many forms, but there is one thing that they all have in common, they will draw charts showing vast wealth in short time, from, it would appear, quite modest numbers of people in your downline. www.moneyweb.co.uk /essays/internet/pyramid.html   (2468 words)

WVAG: FAQs: Consumer Protection Division: Pyramid Promotional Schemes Pyramid sales involve schemes in which the right to sell new memberships in the pyramid are sold under the guise of selling a product. Pyramid schemes take on a line of products and claim to be in the business of selling them to consumers in order to look like a multi-level marketing company. Pyramid companies make virtually all their profits from signing up new recuruits and often disguise entry fees as part of the price charged for required purchases of training, computer services or product inventory. www.wvs.state.wv.us /wvag/faq/consumer/pyramid_schemes.html   (603 words)

Microsoft Financial Fraud Update It is not uncommon for participants in pyramid schemes to lose their emotional bearings. If 80 percent of this value is the result of a pyramid scheme, based upon manipulating a breakdown in the accounting rules, that would imply a future loss of $1.1 billion to the teachers of California. It is important to note that the genius of the pyramid scheme is to leverage share growth from investors using a passive investment approach based upon indexing to the SandP 500. www.billparish.com /msftfraudfacts.html   (5897 words)

Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes   (Site not responding. Last check: ) Pyramid schemes are chains in which a bottom level of many people pay money to a few people at the top. If you participate in a pyramid scheme, you also run a significant risk that the pyramid operation will be closed down and you may be subject to fines and possible arrest. Pyramid schemes, on the other hand, are not concerned with sales to end users of the products. www.bbbsilicon.org /topic119.html   (1262 words)

Tips On... Multi-Level Marketing (How To Tell A Legitimate Opportunity From A Pyramid Scheme) Pyramid scheme participants attempt to recoup their investments in products by recruiting from the ever- decreasing number of potential investors in a given area. The tragic aspect of pyramid schemes is that they concentrate on and exploit people with limited means and limited knowledge of business- people who can ill afford to lose the investment they put into the program. Pyramid schemes, on the other hand, pressure you to pay a large amount to become a "distributor." The promoters behind the scheme make most of their profit on the signing up of new recruits. www.lectlaw.com /files/cos67.htm   (1124 words)

Pyramid Schemes: What's wrong with chain letter pyramid schemes? Posters who start these threads claim it will work if everyone is "honest." In fact, with the usual send-this-message-to-five-people scheme, it only takes 15 steps in the scheme before the total number of participants must be 7.6 billion — larger than the Earth's population — in order for the scheme to continue. Both Ponzi schemes and pyramids are quite seductive because they may be able to deliver a high rate of return to a few early investors for a short period of time. When you post these schemes to newsgroups, you are interrupting the usual discussions about literature, science, art, sex, entertainment, etc. Regular Usenet readers have seen these schemes before and they don't like it when you interrupt their discussions. www.interleaves.org /~rteeter/pyramid.html   (1052 words)

Pyramid Scheme Calculator Pyramid schemes typically work as a club, where individuals pay their "joining fee" or "gift" or "donation" to people further "up" the pyramid, in the expectation that they themselves will get paid by new recruits who join further "down" the pyramid. If a pyramid scheme has been running for some weeks, there may be a dozen or more levels above you. For a more accelerated scheme - particularly those involving large religious groups, dinner-party clubs or other schemes involving "club" structures - it may be a requirement for individuals to recruit more than 2 people. www.homepage.net /pyramidcalculator   (377 words)

pyramid schemes, chain letters and Ponzi schemes All pyramid schemes will begin to die when the later recruits don't sign on in numbers large enough to pay off the earlier recruits. Pyramid schemes are popular because people are greedy and greed can do wonders to a person's thinking. The scheme was similar to five others that had been operating in southern California, also involving police officers and support staff. skepdic.com /pyramid.html   (1840 words)

Pyramid Q & A Numerous courts have defined pyramid schemes to be those schemes where the majority of profits are derived from the participants of the scheme itself. Far from finding that Amway is not a pyramid scheme, the court went on to summarize the evidence indicating that Amway may be an illegal pyramid scheme. The pyramid and RICO claims were dismissed for lack of standing since PandG was not a distributor and could not have been injured by the Amway pyramid scheme. www.amquix.info /quixtar_pyramid-q-a.html   (2028 words)

Attorney General: Pyramid Schemes   (Site not responding. Last check: ) An illegal "pyramid scheme" is a form of multi-level marketing where the product is only of secondary importance, or there may be no product at all. It is a violation of state law for any pyramid operator to claim or imply the program has the approval of the Attorney General's Office. Some illegal pyramid operators may tell you that the details of the program were sent to the Attorney General's Office and that the office did not express any objection. www.atg.wa.gov /consumer/pyramid   (559 words)

Cybercrime : Piercing the darkness This makes the scheme all the more appealing to ignorant people who think that paying a sum of hundred to two hundred dollars is nothing compared to the vast sums of money they will get in a matter of days. The two basic underlying foundations of this scheme, however, are that there will always be an infinite pool of gullible people who want to cash in and that more and more wealth is being created. Pyramid schemes can hence be defined as illegitimate business ventures because they produce no goods of any significance and they provide no service. library.thinkquest.org /04oct/00460/pyramidSchemes.html   (1343 words)

The Truth Behind Pyramid Schemes A Pyramid scheme as such is a money-making scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people recruited below them. Pyramid schemes reached an extraordinary level in Albania in the late 90s. Schemes were run as businesses and got millions of investors in months by offering to double or treble money each month, two thirds of the population were buying in, people were selling houses to buy in. blogs.ittoolbox.com /unix/tidbits/archives/the-truth-behind-pyramid-schemes-9223?rss=1   (843 words)

Pyramid Schemes In the classic "pyramid" scheme, participants attempt to make money solely by recruiting new participants into the program. The hallmark of these schemes is the promise of sky-high returns in a short period of time for doing nothing other than handing over your money and getting others to do the same. The fraudsters behind a pyramid scheme may go to great lengths to make the program look like a legitimate multi-level marketing program. www.sec.gov /answers/pyramid.htm   (181 words)

Pyramid scheme - SkepticWiki   (Site not responding. Last check: ) A pyramid scheme (also called a Ponzi scheme) is a (fraudulent) investment that relies upon continuous recruitment. One of the first widespread pyramid schemes was developed by Carlo “Charles” Ponzi, an American immigrant from Italy, in 1919. Although not an illegal pyramid scheme, most people participating are recruited by the same claims and visions of limitless and effortless wealth from their "downstream" making huge sales on their behalf. www.skepticwiki.org /wiki/index.php/Pyramid_scheme   (577 words)

"PYRAMID SCHEMES" Pyramid schemes now come in so many forms that they may be difficult to recognize immediately. Both Ponzi schemes and pyramids are quite seductive because they may be able to deliver a high rate of return to a few early investors for a short period of time. Half of the pyramid's recruits may see themselves as victims of a scam that we took too long to stop; the other half may view themselves as victims of government meddling that ruined their chance to make millions. www.ftc.gov /speeches/other/dvimf16.htm   (5931 words)

Pyramid Scheme Alert Pyramid Scheme Alert will soon be releasing a report on the fantastic claims and amazing logic used by the DSA to cover up the massive losses inflicted on consumers by multi-level marketing schemes and the lack of any “direct selling” in most MLMs. Pyramid Scheme Alert has sent letters to Attorneys General in all other states warning them to be vigilant regarding any chain selling schemes that are headquartered in Utah. Pyramid Scheme Alert, a Charlotte, NC-based consumer advocacy group has formally asked Roy Cooper, the North Carolina Attorney General, to investigate the business practices of the North Carolina-based company, Britt World Wide, owned by the Amway/Quixtar kingpin, Mr. www.pyramidschemealert.org /PSAMain/home.html   (2087 words)

Capitalism: A Pyramid Scheme Capitalism is a pyramid scheme because the early entrants can get rich, but later entrants get stuck with the bill—along with the descendants of the early winners. In a pyramid scheme, those who recruit additional participants benefit directly (in fact, failure to recruit typically means no investment return). A pyramid scheme is bound to collapse a lot faster, simply because of the demand for exponential increases in participants to sustain it (Ponzi schemes can survive simply by getting most participants to “reinvest” their money, with a relatively small number of new participants). douglassmyth.gnn.tv /blogs/19272/Capitalism_A_Pyramid_Scheme   (601 words)

Second Life: Virtual world's supposed economy is 'a pyramid scheme' Frankly to call it a pyramid scheme is kind of irresponsible this early on, right now if you expect to make a profit in SL as a large business you need to be patient, those who have a presence and experience in SL early on will have an advantage to those later on. Secondlife has potential, calling it a pyramid scheme because it doesn't have the ability to give the media promised "easy cash from the Internets." right away is insulting to anyone who actually participating in the growth of Secondlife. It is not a pyramid scheme as that term implies several things that are false to fact when compared to the reality of business in SL. www.valleywag.com /tech/second-life/virtual-worlds-supposed-economy-is-a-pyramid-scheme-230813.php   (3026 words)

Metroactive Dining | Pyramid Scheme The $25,000 question of course is, "Why?" Well, we chose the human pyramid not only for its storied and mystical history (Aleister Crowley is said to have been a huge fan of human pyramids as a child), but also for the subtle transgression of social boundaries it requires of its participants. She grabbed the megaphone and started barking--in her charmingly persuasive way--at passers-by, assuring them that they wanted to be in a human pyramid. Given his symbolic position on the bottom of our human pyramid, we can only hope that he and the rest of the workers of the world one day make it to the top. www.metroactive.com /papers/cruz/10.26.05/pyramid-0543.html   (2342 words)

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