Hi, Dave, Has your earlier hypothesis been proved, I wonder?

Hi Art, ========================================================= Has your earlier hypothesis been proved, I wonder? ============================================================ It is beginning to look like it has. Funny! God bless, Dave

Hi Gary, ======================================================== The reason these scams are around is because they continue to "pull" the crowds. Send out 1000 emails, 10 fools will respond and one real goose will lose his or her life savings. =========================================================== Yep - very true. It's interesting that I just read some nonsense on another forum today stating, as if it was some brand new, divine revelation, that after all, network marketing is just a numbers game. Send out enough ads and you'll make the money! You just gotta sort through the people till your find the suckers ... oops - I mean, business partners (that's the politically correct expression you have to use for 'suckers' these days.) The main difference between a whole lot of the MLMs and such out there today, and the scam artists, is that the MLM companies and their ilk are staying just inside the outermost fringes of the law. God bless, Dave

Hi Leanne, I like your straight up style, and have to agree with you - the real pleasures of life are most often completely free, and can come from the simplest things. My family and I have had more fun camping in the local bush than most people have traveling to exotic locations all over the world. All it cost us was a bit of gas for the truck and some grub that we'd eat at home, anyway. ======================================================= You got my interest by the 'bullshit' title, thought it was strange coming from you. =========================================================== Yeah... it came out of a little private conversation between Art and I! :-D God bless, Dave

Hi Shannon, Thanks for visiting. While I agree with you that many people are finding themselves in desparate situations and having a harder and harder time paying the bills, one of the reasons MOST (definitely not all) people get into that situation in the first place is because they want to have it all right now. Unfortunately, our modern banking system and easy credit make it possible for people to get into big trouble fast. You can, for example, furnish your whole, heavily mortgaged house with very expensive and beautiful furniture without even having to pay for it for a year or more! In other words, you can get it, enjoy it, and forget about thinking about how in the world you're going to pay for it for a year or more. You can also, along with the house and furniture, drive a brand new car with no money down and "easy monthly payments," and get no payments for the first two months. Then, with that little offer to customers with "excellent credit like yourself" from that little finance company, you can get an prequalified loan for a dream vacation to anywhere in the world. In no time at all, people find that there's no possible way to make all those payments AND eat, so they make the payments and rack up their credit cards for the rest, while looking for a guaranteed quick fix that will take care of all those debts. In other words, they want an instant fix for the instant credit problems. So, they go out looking for a quick fix, find someone who offers them a guaranteed way to make a potfull of money quickly for the very small fee of $99 and $39 per month for membership fees, only to quickly find out that it just doesn't work as advertised, so they go out looking for another one! It's a very nasty, vicious circle. For people who are in trouble financially, whether it's from the kind of credit problems just listed, or from a health, downsizing, skills or other issue, there is help available. The best thing that people can do who are in financial trouble is to ask for help! First of all to go to your financial institution and try to work out a solution. It's quite amazing how easy it is for your bank to help you get your finances in order quickly! It's in their best interests to help you. You can also check with local churches and philanthropic organizations. There are many places to go for help, OTHER than another "get-rich-quick" scheme, which is guaranteed to fail. =========================================================== What hurts me is when I see someone looking to supplement their disability or social security fall prey to scams and hype. These are people in real need, looking for a real solution. =============================================================== Yes, Shannon, this really bothers me, too, but the fact is, they had enough in their present income to be able to fall prey, moneyh they could have used as part of their budget, but they let their emotions make their decision, rather than doing their due diligence first. The bottom line is, each person is personally responsible for their financial decisions, and must do their own due diligence. ============================================================== And, of course, the Greed Factor. There will always be greedy people, and some of those greedy people will be the cons, some of them will be the conned. ================================================================= Unfortunately, most of the conned are conned because they're greedy. Most of us will have to admit that greed is something we all have - we just need to learn how to keep it under control. God bless, Dave