Bridget Read

Best for:
Those interested in a compelling history of pyramid schemes and their evolution into multi-level marketing schemes.

In a nutshell:
Author Read provides the history of pyramid schemes and the modern turn to MLMs, framed on the backdrop of a Mary Kay consultant named Monique.

Worth quoting:
“We are taken care of as consumers, not as human beings.”

Why I chose it:
I find MLMs disgusting and fascinating.

Review:
What an great read. Author Read took a topic that is definitely intriguing, but show more managed to make even the discussions around regulation compelling.

Throughout the book, Read begins each section with an update on Monique. Monique is a former service woman who is struggling, and decides that becoming a seller of Mary Kay cosmetics is the way to go. She’d be her own boss, and apparently make boatloads of money. Spoiler: She end up spending over $75,000 of her own money over eight years, bringing in only about $5,000 in that time. So, not great.

Read doesn’t just examine Mary Kay (though she does manage to infiltrate their annual convention, so we get some first-hand insider information on them); she looks at the root of pyramid schemes and how they have preyed upon people - most often women - who are looking to make money without the schedule that shift or full-time work brings. Think mothers, or people who perhaps have a regular job but it doesn’t pay nearly enough because capitalism sucks.

She follows multiple companies, including Amway, which sort of started it all. And wouldn’t you know - one of the wost families in the world is behind it. The DeVos family! You are probably familiar with Betsy, who married into the family and started the destruction of the US Department of Education. Her brother is Erik Prince, who started the mercenary company Blackwater. Just a horrifying group of human being who have preyed on society for generations in order to make as much money as possible while controlling as many people as possible.

So much of this book had be yelling ‘what the fuck’ - but nothing more than when the author shared the connection between the backers of MLMs and Project 2025, the manifesto currently destroying what remains of the US government and economy. But the leaders of these ‘companies’ just don’t care - they get money, while millions of people get stuck in trying to sell products no one wants, buying more and more to move up the line. While the government has repeatedly shied away from calling these MLMs pyramid schemes, Read shows that they basically are, and they are not helping anyone but the smallest fraction at the very very top. show less

Yes, another book in the crowded field multilevel marketing scams, but this one focuses less on the "consultants" and more on the historical link between MLM execs and American politicians - primarily but not exclusively Republicans. Companies like Amway, Mary Kay Cosmetics, and Herbalife funneled millions of dollars to the election campaigns of business-friendly presidents Reagan, both Bushes, and Donald Trump with the expectations they would keep the regulators away. Betsy DeVos, whose show more husband is a former Amway CEO, served under 45 as Education Secretary, doing her best to dismantle her own agency. Bridget Read doesn't offer much hope that the Federal government will ever hold the MLMs accountable; sadly, since the book was completed before the second Trump regime, there's now a snowball's chance in Hell that anything will change. show less

A powerful and welcome analysis of this legalized fraud that continues to be perpetrated by protected individuals. Well researched and well done, if a bit caustic at times.