Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

This is fascinating. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-did-kamala-harris-let-herbalife-off-the-hook_n_5c8fab16e4b03e83bdc39a37 I will be curious to see how far Kamala Harris gets within the Democratic Primary campaign and, as her campaign proceeds, how much of an impediment her involvement with Herbalife (specifically with a husband-wife lobbying team both of whom did work for Herbalife) will be. There is an ethnic issue here: Herbalife draws its sales force, aka its sucker supply, largely from the Hispanic community, and it has come under fire from activists in that space. But underneath that, there is the notion of what if anything is the difference between a "pyramid scheme" and a legitimate multi-level marketing firm, other than the pull of the lobbyists the latter can hire. In either case we are talking about operations where some sales people make money by recruiting other sales people, who can do the same, though for appearances sake it is good that they ...

The prohibition of pyramid schemes does not amount to a prohibition of all multi-level marketing (MLM). Tupperware lawfully sells storage and serving products branded with its name and the well-known “burp” on the one hand. It also lawfully offers to some individuals the right to offer its products to other potential customers in return for initial entry costs (in effect, purchasing a Tupperware franchise) on the other. That much is uncontroversial. Nor is the sale of a Tupperware franchise a security requiring registration as such. Where controversy begins to enter the picture is when these individuals are themselves empowered to sell the right to sell the product to third parties, creating another downstream level, and where the second level retailer not only thereafter gets a commission from the sale of the company’s products herself; she gets a share of the downstream profits: she shares in the proceeds of sales made by individuals she recruited to be sales people. This k...