3 ms·

Also I’d argue that GOOP and Gwyneth Paltrow are running a kind of confidence scheme.

catalogia 7y ago
There are also "multi-level marketting" pyramid schemes and high pressure timeshare salesmen still out there. The difference between an outright conman and a high-pressure salesman seems marginal at best.
- claudeganon 7y ago
  Fun fact: the second largest industry in Utah (after tourism) are pyramid schemes. They do billions in revenue. It’s also the center of the entirely unregulated bogus, vitamin/supplement industry. So not only are conmen alive and well, they’re a primary industry in at least one US state.
  - Nextgrid 7y ago
    It is insane that an entire state is actually happy to be a save haven for this trash instead of cracking down on it. It isn't like they don't know either, there are more than enough stories out there on the dangers and negative effects of MLMs (both financial but also health-wise since the MLM paddlers will often make bogus health claims related to the scams they're hawking) for anyone in power to know these are bad and should be regulated out of existence.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - Nasrudith 7y ago
      That is the problem with provincial or local level government - they are effectively encouraged to go with antisocial options like that and guard them because it localizes benefits. One virtue of a centralized system is that their incentives are to stop this parasitic crap because the systemic costs are greater.
    - lonelappde 7y ago
      Utah is sort of like an American Australia, but populated by a single criminal and his cult followers who fled other states. The state is run by members of the cult.
  - cromwellian 7y ago
    Don't forget that the entire boom in supplements/vitamins in the industry is the result of Orrin Hatch, who sold snake oil door to door to put himself through college, and then as Senator, succeeded in getting supplements declared as neither a Food nor Drug, so the FDA essentially couldn't regulate them. I think it's fare to say that Orrin Hatch's career has resulted in millions of people being fleeced by quack snake oil, and some non-trivial number of people's health harmed. https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-hatch-20180105-story.html https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-hatch...
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    Utah was originally largely settled by a con artist and his followers in USA's largest cult, the "Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints", and is still 62% populated by its members.
    - dang 7y ago
      Please keep religious flamewar off this site.

There are also "multi-level marketting" pyramid schemes and high pressure timeshare salesmen still out there. The difference between an outright conman and a high-pressure salesman seems marginal at best.

claudeganon 7y ago
Fun fact: the second largest industry in Utah (after tourism) are pyramid schemes. They do billions in revenue. It’s also the center of the entirely unregulated bogus, vitamin/supplement industry. So not only are conmen alive and well, they’re a primary industry in at least one US state.
- Nextgrid 7y ago
  It is insane that an entire state is actually happy to be a save haven for this trash instead of cracking down on it. It isn't like they don't know either, there are more than enough stories out there on the dangers and negative effects of MLMs (both financial but also health-wise since the MLM paddlers will often make bogus health claims related to the scams they're hawking) for anyone in power to know these are bad and should be regulated out of existence.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - Nasrudith 7y ago
    That is the problem with provincial or local level government - they are effectively encouraged to go with antisocial options like that and guard them because it localizes benefits. One virtue of a centralized system is that their incentives are to stop this parasitic crap because the systemic costs are greater.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    Utah is sort of like an American Australia, but populated by a single criminal and his cult followers who fled other states. The state is run by members of the cult.
- cromwellian 7y ago
  Don't forget that the entire boom in supplements/vitamins in the industry is the result of Orrin Hatch, who sold snake oil door to door to put himself through college, and then as Senator, succeeded in getting supplements declared as neither a Food nor Drug, so the FDA essentially couldn't regulate them. I think it's fare to say that Orrin Hatch's career has resulted in millions of people being fleeced by quack snake oil, and some non-trivial number of people's health harmed. https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-hatch-20180105-story.html https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-hatch...
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Utah was originally largely settled by a con artist and his followers in USA's largest cult, the "Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints", and is still 62% populated by its members.
  - dang 7y ago
    Please keep religious flamewar off this site.