Why do pyramid schemes and chain letters work?
I mean, they wouldn’t proliferate like they do if someone, somewhere, didn’t make a few bucks off of it. And as we saw, when managed adroitly (Glenn W. Turner and Koscot Interplanetary), they can be downright lucrative despite being very obviously fraudulent and very obviously illegal. Pyramid schemes seem like such an obvious sort of fraud that it is often incredible to people that they continue to work. The reason is simple: greed. People want something for nothing. They want to make a lot of money without working for it. I’m not a prude about making money. Money is useful. But it isn’t everything, and it’s not worth breaking the law for. The criminal scammer preys on the greed of his victims, not necessarily their gullibility. If someone is greedy enough, their good judgment goes out the window. Like the man says: “From top to bottom of the ladder, greed is aroused without knowing where to find ultimate foothold. Nothing can calm it, since its goal is far beyond all it can attain. R
