

Gotcha! How MLMs Ate the Economy w/ Bridget Read
Sep 26, 2025
Bridget Read, a features writer and author of *Little Bosses Everywhere*, dives into the dark world of multi-level marketing (MLM). She reveals how early door-to-door salesmen turned vitamins into recruitment-driven schemes, exploiting hopeful individuals. The conversation explores MLM's radical free-enterprise ideology and its ties to modern gig economies and crypto scams. Read connects personal experiences and the emotional toll of MLMs, arguing they symbolize deeper regulatory failures. Join the discussion on economic patterns and the cost of chasing entrepreneurial dreams.
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MLM As A Product-Based Ponzi
- Multi-level marketing (MLM) transformed door-to-door sales by rewarding recruitment and wholesale purchases, not real retail sales.
- Bridget Read argues this structure is functionally a product-based Ponzi that birthed pyramid schemes.
Regulation Legitimized The Model
- Regulators initially targeted MLM product claims, not the recruitment fraud beneath them, delaying proper enforcement.
- A 1979 FTC decision legitimized Amway-style rules and let the MLM model persist worldwide.
Independent Contractor Loophole Fueled MLMs
- MLMs exploited the New Deal's independent contractor carve-out to avoid labor protections and benefits.
- Bridget Read links that contractor status to modern gig work precarity and regulatory gaps.