Who Stole The American Dream? – A Book Review
When Burke Hedges wrote the book ” Who Stole The American Dream” he had no way of knowing at that time what was going to come in the economy and job market in America today. Just how does what he said in the early 1990’s help us almost 20 years later. The jobless rate is high, higher than it has been in years, there really does not seem to be job security maybe even less than what he stated in the book at the time of printing. How big of role should network marketing play in today’s world and how can you get involved?
What is the American Dream? Is one of the first questions asked in the book. Maybe it is a little different for everyone but a common thread seems to be financial freedom, to be able to do what you want when you want. The sad truth is that at age 65 nearly 95% of all people are dead, dead broke, still working, or dependent on family, church, or state. That means only 5% are financially independent upon retirement. What happened to the American Dream?
Network Marketing is a term that almost everyone has heard but maybe it has been linked to other terms like pyramid scheme, Ponzi scheme, multi-level pyramid could all be things stated about the network marketing industry. Did you know that the multi-level pyramid it a natural structure and every oragnization that distributes goods and services is a pyramid shape with multi-levels? According to the book American businesses, government, education, and even churches are pyramids. Pyramids like anything can be good or bad. There are both legal and illegal pyramids and what makes it a scheme is when the value stops flowing down. Carlo “Charles” Ponzi created the largest money taking scheme making a name for himself when ever a bi rip-off takes place it is now called a Ponzi Scheme. The book goes on to state the largest pyramid scheme in the world is legal and it was created by the U.S. government and is called Social Security.
Burke goes on to explain how charities and education are helping to steal the American Dream. Big charities are non-profit for you and me but huge profits for the hypocrites that run them. Just when you though that you were helping kids or cancer research you have now found out that the directors have taken hundreds of thousands for themselves and added perks like luxury vacations with your donations. Not just a pyramid scheme but illegal,unethical,and immoral.
Next he gets into education. Colleges and universities are big business and should be judged by their production. About 90% of all graduates are not working in the field that they went to school for in the first place. If not for endowments these institutions would not survive. If they were forced to operate like a real business they would go bankrupt in a year. What other options are there?
Many people choose to open their own small business to try and reach the American Dream. The fact is that 90 percent of all conventional small businesses failing the first 5 years and of the ten percent that make it past that only a few make it past ten years. It is harder and harder for small businesses to be successful in the market today. Franchising is another option but you have to have such a substantial amount of money to buy one then add the real estate and equipment. The profit in this type of enterprise is not that great for the amount of risk and headache involved. Most who own a franchise eventually like to have more that one to actually make a decent profit. These options do not sound like the picture of the American Dream either. There must be a choice left for the average American to reach their dream. There is and that is what we are going to talk about next.
Network Marketing is what the author believes to be the best option for anyone to build their American Dream. As the world changed to did our shopping habits and options. From the first general store,to the 5 &10 department stores,to shopping centers and malls, to franchises, to network marketing. It is all about the distribution and how the network marketing model is saving the companies money. The networking model saves the company by eliminating in house sales force and the huge amounts spent on advertising. One of the best things is that it is a cash business they only pay the distributor after the sale has been made which is so important and is why the parent company can pay the successful home based business owner such high commissions.
There are people from all walks of life in the network marketing field and companies the sell almost anything you can get in a store. Anyone who is willing to build a business and wants to get paid for what they do should take part in network marketing.Th 80-20 rule takes place in just about everything meaning 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. Are you ready to be part of the 20 percent? Burke goes on to explain exactly how the networking is structured and how our government tries to block anyone from finding out how much people really are making as networkers. Is this to keep us from reaching the American Dream? The book goes on to talk about building a multi-level business.
Since this book has been published much has changed in the MLM field. Many companies offer web sites to help to build a business and social networking has exploded the networking industry. How has that changed things in the last 20 years? You are no longer limited to the few people that you personally know. The sky is the limit when it comes to marketing on the internet. Find out how you can become part of the network marketing industry, build your business online with the latest techniques and build your American Dream. Click the following link and take back the American Dream today.