Does it pay to be honest?

Hi,

Honesty? Why, I am in a program which works best based on facts, figures, financial formula and fundamentals. How to pitch otherwise when the whole world could see the facts, figures, ... ? No other way but the truth. Some US$50,000 came in ... from complete strangers because of facts, figures, formula and fundamentals.


Bye

When Christopher Marlowe (died A.D. 1593) wrote his story of Faust (Faustus), like Goethe after him, he borrowed from existing stories. In Marlowe's version, Faust is a man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for wealth, power, and fame ... and in the end his soul was dragged away to hell.

In other words, cultural censure against greed is not new. Yet its historical prevalence suggests the lesson needs to be relearned by every generation, usually with much failure. If honesty were believed to be the best policy, why so many excessive and unfulfilled promises (i.e., deceit)? And why government attempts at cracking down?

If men were angels, James Madison once wrote, there would be no need for government. Or forum posts about the need for honesty.

Attempts at correction are commendable, but the problem runs deeper.

If memory serves, the cartoon Opossum Pogo once walked around the swamp with his animal friends looking for the enemy. Discovery of tracks got the animals excited until they understood the tracks to be their own. At that point Pogo let forth the immortal line, "We have found the enemy, and he is us."

May heaven help us and others.

Marketing is not an easy industry to dominate. Get-Rich-Quick business opportunities play on your fear of poverty, or being poor forever. They don't want to discourage you from investing in their so-called lucrative income generating system, so they fail to mention how competitive this game really is. They fail to mention how time consuming it can be, trying build a viral interest in a new or overworked product or service. They don't care beyond the initial hyped up membership fee. Business is simple, buy low and sell higher to double your investment.

Sell hats, perfume, cars, anything other than Tricknology and Fantasy that sounds too good to be true.