Computer Says Maybe26 Sep 2025

Gotcha! How MLMs Ate the Economy w/ Bridget Read

Multi-level marketing schemes have built an empire by enticing people with promises of self-realisation and economic freedom. The cost is simple: exploit and be exploited.

More like this: Worker Power & Big Tech Bossmen w/ David Seligman

This is part two of Gotcha! Our series on scams, how they work, and how technology is super-charging them. This week Bridget Read came to Alix with a very exciting business opportunity. Bridget authored Little Bosses Everywhere — a book on the history of MLM.

We explore how door-to-door sales in the mid 20th century US took on the business model of a ponzi scheme, and transformed the sweaty salesman into an entrepreneurial recruiter with a downline.

MLM originators were part of a coordinated plan to challenge the new deal in lieu of radical free enterprise, where the only thing holding you back is yourself, and the economy consists solely of consumers selling to each other in a market of speculation. The secret is, no one is selling a product — they’re selling a way of life.

Further reading & resources:

Buy Bridget’s book: Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America
Family Values by Melinda Cooper
The Missing Crypto Queen: a podcast by BBC Sounds, about a large scale crypto scam, where there wasn’t even any crypto
LuLaRoe — the pyramid scheme that tricked American mums into selling cheap clothes to their friends and family with the promise of financial independence.
My Experience of Being in a Pyramid Scheme (Amway) — a personal account by Darren Mudd on LinkedIn
Watch our recent live show at NYC Climate Week

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