PROPOSAL FOR GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF MLM COMPANIES
Proposal for Government Regulations of MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) and other Similar Networking Businesses for Fair Business Practice, Protecting both the Business Members and Consumers
In business networking schemes, salespersons are encouraged to recruit other salespersons through monetary incentives that come out of membership fees. As an additional incentive, salespersons higher up in the hierarchy of a relational network are able to profit from the sales of products by lower members. While these incentives help drive a larger sales force to expand business, the extent of the profit by members higher in the hierarchy of a relational network in both membership fees and product sales are normally excessive in present MLM schemes.
When MLM schemes are truncated, i.e. relational networks have a specified reasonable limit such as profit sharing from the membership fees and product sales are limited to a maximum of two rungs below a salesperson, three important factors are effected:
1)Membership cost could be reduced thereby limiting exposure to monetary risk by new members.
2)A larger percentage of money earned through the efforts of recruiting and sales will be apportioned to those directly and indirectly by only those who are closely related in a relational network hierarchy.
3)By virtue of the reduced apportioning of profit through product sales, dealer prices could be made lower and accordingly, the suggested retail price would also be reduced thereby enabling easier sales that benefits the consumer.
A sample networking diagram demonstrating profit relationships limited in extent to two rungs below a “higher” member:
The word “reasonable” above was used appropriately in that there would necessarily be a very close relationship among a member with all members immediately below. In assisting those members directly below in understanding the business model and related operations in recruiting and sales, a small percentage of profit would reasonably be allowed. The human interaction as it relates to the business activity between members further than two rungs apart is practically nonexistent thus cessation of profit sharing beyond this reasonable limit is more equitable as it relates to profit per work involved.
Even if there is a truncation at 8 or 10 or whatever chosen number by an MLM business, the model approximates a pyramid scheme whereby those at the top can do nothing after a while and profit off of an extremely large amount of other’s membership fees and product sales. Though this may be a driving force to get people to become members with the hopes of getting rich with no eventual effort, it is counterproductive to a well-functioning society by many other people who must necessarily sacrifice to enable the fantastic dream. It is thus emphasized that government play a role in limiting such business to having a model that is reasonable with respect to profit sharing among networking members and as discussed above that reasonable limit is proposed as being 2 rungs below any member.
In partial defense of MLM companies, the usual capitalistic scheme of owners and/or executives in corporations often draw off a disproportionate amount of money relative to their actual work and the lower workers make relatively little compared to their efforts. However, neither of these situations MUST occur if people worked together to effect greater fairness. Specifically in MLM schemes, the prices of products are usually not very compelling compared to that of ordinary corporations because of excess burden of lower level workers to pay higher premiums for products that go to higher level workers. This scenario could be lessened to mimic more closely the essential features of ordinary corporations by utilizing a truncated version of multi-level marketing. While this would be a first-order cure, both the resulting cure and current typical corporate inefficiencies of higher level workers still obtaining much more than what is deserving based on capital expenditures and/or work involved, a basic tenet would be for those at the top to earn no more than 2 times the average worker, even if for example some lower level workers are particularly energetic to earn more than higher level workers.
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Boxing Categories:
I made it clear in my earlier writings of my disapproval of boxing and other sports that have purposeful infliction of harm, not to mention ordinary fighting. Fighting has no use in a well-mannered society though if it continues being supported, at least the skill aspect could be the major component and thus necessitating a head guard and more stabilized mouthpiece. Notwithstanding the skill and safety aspects, assuming boxing must still exist, and being that height and reach are factors influencing the outcomes of fights I propose below a new convention that incorporates all three major components of weight, height, and reach to determine fighting divisions. The height and weight are important but normally given only ancillary status to weight. Realizing that weight is most significant, a new measure using the metric system of kilograms and centimeters is constructed by adding twice the weight with the average of the height and reach. Below is a chart demonstrating the various categories with classifications stated in size as opposed to weight.
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Boycotting is rarely done today. It should be done much more often and not just for emotionally charged issues such as dolphin being caught by mistake in the tuna industry. Whether it's overpriced restaurants, certain overpriced foods at a grocery store, taxis, particular companies who charge too much, people need to exercise good judgment to give their business to those who don't seek outrageous profit margins and who offer good prices at good values. This is in addition to the boycotting I mention in the book of noting social unfairness that is allowed to flourish such as the making of royalty of certain people who are in the entertainment industry, including sports players who are thought of as persons who are deserving of everything they get as a result of the free market system.
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Radio and television ads are sometimes louder than regular programming. This insidious method of commerce is annoying and needs to stop. The FCC could be pressured by the public to make stop the practice.
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Misc-commerce: When placing a call, if after 5 rings the call is routed to an answering service but the caller still hears ringing, there may be a charge imposed even though the call never connected to any person nor to a machine to accept a message. This is an insidious way in which phone companies can impose a charge and it should stop.
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Horns on vehicles – there are laws preventing excessive noise for such in some areas of the world but as of present there are still many places where there is not and causes undue harm to hearing ability of people. It is proposed that remaining areas of such noise pollution be dealt with.
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People have a hard time showing respect so laws then become necessary along with police and justice system. These components of government could be lessened with adequate early childhood teaching. There are a minority of people who never have any intention of harming others and so since this is the case, it is possible to broaden to a greater proportion. We should not just give up but put in the effort immediately at the best stage of human development to make for an orderly society.
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Avoidance of Physical Attacks and Aggressive Behavior in General
Hermit life – avoids bad situations with people. A “happy-medium” of being closed-in and interacting with people is individualistic, but whatever that is determined, a reassessment may be in order to see if greater withdrawal from others would lead to greater happiness. Fit this into aggression chapter...aggression avoidance or rather avoidance of situations to prevent or lessen psychological and physical harm could be accomplished by having a secluded life. There are of course some situations that are more prone to bad human behavior but any situation can cause it...sometimes it requires more money to make it happen such as owning or renting a house since apartment and roommate situations means greater contact with others that necessarily means greater chances for problems. A problem could arise from parking such as someone parking in your personal parking space, loud music being played during sleeping hours, annoyance of cigarette smoke that could be from shared outside areas or even through walls from joint electrical outlets or ducting system for bathroom or kitchen fans, contact with owner or manager,...maybe someone in a roommate setup borrows or steals an item, perhaps a material item or food, bathroom usage problems etc. Beyond annoyances that can trigger aggression, more definite activities such as stealing clothes that are allowed to dry outside, parking area accidents problems, uncontrolled pets posing physical hazards. When wrongdoers are confronted, ego-protecting mechanisms can quickly be used to prevent peaceful resolution and then psychological stress can result and bickering parties are more apt to argue/fight upon any future problem. All this is bad for those who don't cause trouble and so for those people this is something serious to think about. Of course those who lack respect to the lives of others would be unaffected by heeding any of the above so I suppose they would have nothing to gain from seclusion except the lack of gratification of causing other people to be miserable.
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Legislation for plants that can cause harm from accidental contact:
For purposely planted rose bushes, thistle, century plants and other obvious dangerous plants, there should be at least a 3 foot fence containing the plants with no plant extending beyond the imaginary vertical continuation of the fence while in public places as well as front yards of private residences. Children are often victims of getting harms from accidental contact with such plants and adults should do a better job in safeguarding children.
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Hotel and airfare prices need change to lessen the highly irregular differentiation of rates. Real estate commissions also need to be adjusted to account for higher priced homes. I suggest going from not just 6% down to 5 or even 4 percent but down to 1%. Why are there high hotel costs? Spoiled people who don’t research and accept price as it is, also corporate world, not caring and hurts everybody both in terms of maintaining high hotel prices and added cost of goods or services by increased corporate expenses.
In regards to bus and airline tickets, there has been abuse of consumers where sometimes one-way tickets are more costly than round-trip tickets. It is proposed that one-way tickets would be compelled to be priced at no more than 60% of the related round-trip fare and to prevent the loophole of a special discount that applies only to round-trip tickets, the one-way tickets in such cases should be priced at no higher than 65% of the related round-trip fare.
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Further consumer protection could be made in the area of beverages that require no special preparation such as dispensing soda. Beverages have been one major and quite insidious way to rip off consumers by charging perhaps 10 to 20 times the actual cost. In understanding that there is overhead costs related to establishments selling beverages but at the same time protecting consumers from outrageous prices, it is proposed that the final cost to patrons for beverages requiring no special preparation to be based on no more than 3 times the actual net cost of the beverage.
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Animals in captivity:
My stance is that unless domesticated and posing no threat to human lives, animals should be left in the wild with only those animals in captivity for brief times for study and medical treatment. Even though it’s only occasional, people are still getting killed by animals that otherwise would not if animals were left to be in the wild. Certainly there is some enjoyment in watching animals at shows, particularly when “tricks” are performed, but the entertainment value needs to be countered with safety as well as freedom for the animal.
Zoos, occasional deaths. Restructure and have fewer exhibits contrary to public demand to allow for natural habitat. Zoos could be used simultaneously with scientific studies to disturb the wold less.
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Falling trees:
Still there is are no meaningful legislation for trees that are so big that when subjected to natural forces such as wind or loose soil from excessive water, fall to cause damage to property and lives. People seem to not take proper precautions. You could have homeowner insurance companies dictate what is needed but that would not be uniform throughout the nation. Additional legislation is also required for controlling fires, particularly in residential area but still doesn’t get dealt with. Home must be cleared of fire dangers from dried brush and dense forest close to homes. For those choosing to live with obvious dangers, the public should not come to the rescue with monetary compensation through governmental declaration of emergency. Legislation could be simple by stating trunk width and height of trees with distances from residential structures, with reasonable accommodations based on home construction. Addressing dried brush would be simple to put into legislation as well. I do not think fines should be issued by having any enforcement but if a tragedy occurred and it was found that damage resulted from not abiding by the regulations then no governmental aide would be issued and the only recourse would have to be through a private insurer.
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Why the separation of genders in most all sports? Part of the motivation may be to uplift women in securing more prizes but in some instances, there is no real warranting for gender exclusion. In sports whereby strength or speed is of great importance such as football (soccer), basketball, baseball, swimming, running, boxing, etc. it is reasonable to separate the genders. For tennis there are just a few women who can perform at a level comparable to the top class of male players but is insufficient for inclusion. However, for golf, the bulk of the play is based on skill and not strength – excepting for a few instances of long distances that would seem appropriate for a slight modification of the starting point for women to enable full inclusion. Other sports such as chess and other parlor games including that of playing cards, billiards, and bowling, skill is the predominant indicator of success and as such should be played without gender categories.
Disperse population for improved standard of living
Communal trees to be fruit trees per some minimum standard to decentralize and offer greater food production. Lessen welfare that is in form of food subsidies. In sidewalk medians when available, parks, and suggest on residential properties, when having sufficient front yard area per lenient government regulations on the side of property owners to have fruit trees maintained by owner – periodically when owner cannot or decides to not harvest fruit he/she is to place a sign that gives the right to the public to harvest. When the sign is withdrawn, the fruit would not be allowed to be picked by others.
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Do away with undue respect for those in certain professions: drop “your honor” for judges. “Sir” or “Ma’am” should suffice.
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Suggested message in church: “You know or should know what you are doing wrong. Go now and correct your behavior.” The message take less than a minute - no need to hold people for an hour except if it helps to serve as a basis for value so that a few can profit.
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Do not “shoot for the stars” as it relates to money, desire to be filthy rich, or other fanatical way that is often told to people in advertisements. Instead, aim for just higher than average. In this way, human progress will still continue, and division of rich and poor would reduce thus creating greater fairness and immensely reducing theft crimes. Be content with having more than sufficient!
Wherever there are big money opportunities and in a fast way, legal or illegal, nefarious activities will result (family members killed even for just life insurance policies). Keeping the use of money and value in terms of money in every way in life can help steer wholesome behavior by not presenting temptation.
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Rock stars and statutory rape...active policing and prosecuting is necessary to uphold the law and to diminish the dangerous idolatry behavior.
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Re: marriages: spouse health coverage-outdated? Those who can have a spouse at home from being well-off to be able to do it actually benefit from this usual allowance and those who cannot take advantage of it are thus subsidizing those who might very well be much better off. Strange, eh? Homosexuals and those who live with a partner in ordinary different gender arrangements cannot benefit.
Marriage/marital status equality??)
– get out of marriage business
1. separation of church and state
2. marriage is a church matter
marriage is a human construct involving religion.
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More ads, means higher prices to recover the cost. We all pay. Store ads (newspaper et al) competition drive, but they could offer more of reduced prices. They market themselves to garnish business but they could also work together by having same # of pages. Same pages likely not feasible, so it may have to be up to consumer to show ability to shop without the bombardment and perhaps reward the stores who spend LESS on advertisement. I haven’t figured out a solution on this topic yet.
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Marketing campaign to raise money - why must they be so inefficient such as when they are of the type involving sponsoring for how long a person walks? Gimmicks for fundraisers – a big waste of resources and demonstrates psychological immaturity of society in thinking that nonessential methods are useful. Organizing a run with medical aides along the way, police in some instances help directing traffic, and generally causing a nuisance is not a streamlined method of raising money. However, if an event that would take place irrespective of a money raising campaign, it would make good sense to make use of the outcome of the event to determine the amount of money raised as this would still offer some excitement without the detriment of a fabricated event. My stance may be perceived as extremely stern, however, I wouldn’t suggest doing away with all non-direct money raising. I just encourage those who want to raise money to take into account disruption to the public and the use of resources (including environmental) that negate some of the money raised.
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Sponsorships in professional sports (and same with political contributions) should not be allowed for institutions such as unions and corporations because there will never be unanimity of all union members or shareholders.
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DNA testing at birth - non-invasive, good for law enforcement in determining potential criminals and as a consequence could reduce crime.
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Bad doctors – ways to remove them and for spotting them (currently data is kept secret in some ways).
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Food stamp program: need to have education to make wiser shoppers and then groceries could be purchased for less and would obviously save the taxpayer.
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Why must there be war? Primarily for commerce, sometimes just for power, but if from religious convictions, then this type of matter needs extensive reconciliation, education, on-going talks to find commonality to live together in peace.
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