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ZetaTalk: Get Rich Quick
Note: written on Jun 15, 1996


Money may not buy love but it certainly covers a lot of fronts - good nutrition, housing, the ability to travel, hand servants, sexual gratification, life in a good climate, and a good view from the top of a hill. More significantly, money is a way out - out of having to work, having to do chores that hirelings can do, out of having to be polite to employers and bankers, and the possibility of a way out of any troubles with a quick cash settlement. Money can also allow the vision to be attained, and make the difference between embarking on a visionary path or languishing. It is not surprising, then, that get-rich- quick schemes are popular and make a lot of money for their promoters, who are themselves trying to get rich.

In dealing with these assertions, that the secret is this or that, one should bear in mind that if it were all that easy, then everyone would be rich. Is this a closely held secret when it is for sale? Is anything being revealed that is special knowledge? These schemes generally include a lot of self confidence builders, which in and of themselves are calculated to make a difference in the lives of those who buy the packaged scheme. The shy man who stood by while others took credit for his ideas becomes assertive and now gets credit, and attributes his improved standard of living to the get-rich-quick scheme. The steady saver, who clings to solid and sure bonds and savings accounts, takes more risky investments and, until they lose big as well as win big, thinks their life transformed.

To the extent that the packaged scheme gives solid advice and encourages the shy and constrained to live life more fully, these schemes do no harm. Where they take money from those who are poverty stricken on false promises, they are only making the promoters rich.

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