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...

Some more thoughts lifted from my ongoing work on my next book. -----------------------  The term “pyramid scheme” is sometimes used loosely as a synonym for “Ponzi scheme,” and their meanings are related, but they are in principle distinct. A pyramid scheme is a business model in which payments are promised to one level of participants for the act in bringing in another level of participants. You, dear reader, have no doubt received the simplest form of a pyramid pitch as chain letters or their e-mailed equivalents. “Send me a dollar. Also, send out six copies of this email to friends of yours, You will get $6 as a return on your $1 investment.” Each of those six people will soon be in the same situation if you comply. It isn’t exactly a Ponzi scheme, although it shares the unsustainability thereof. What’s the difference exactly? In a pyramid scheme, the originator can make a clean get-away. Once you’ve found your own six suckers, you’ve made your profit and the ...