| Comment Number: | 522418-05995 |
| Received: | 7/4/2006 7:31:11 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | james nagle |
| State: | NH |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
People, I am taking this opportunity to make known my concerns regarding the proposed FTC Business Opportunity Rule, R511993. Over the years(I am 58), I have been involved with a number of Direct Sales companies such as Amway, Reliv, Innerlight and now Xango. I have been less successful than I wanted for a variety of reasons. My main point here is that, regardless of the company, at no time did I have a negative experience with any of the aforementioned companies. I was never misled nor did I end up with a garageful of product. I continue to believe, strongly, that the Direct Sales industry is the last, best hope for the "little guy". While there have been companies thru the years that came into existence solely for the purpose of making as much money as possible and "damn the ethics", this appears to be a situation where everyone is painted with the same brush. In other words, because a few companies have been bad therefore every company has to pay for the sins of the few. My main reason for going with Xango, besides the strong code of conduct, is that as I approach my retirement years, I am hoping to develop a residual income to supplement any retirement income I may receive. Because I have diabetes, and because of my age, it will be virtually impossible to find any individual health inurance plan that will enroll me. Therefore, I am going to have to do my best to insure my self. Not an easy task. However, I believe that this industry is the only one that can give me the opportunity to afford to insure myself. We are all familiar with age discrimination and the fact that it does exist. We are also familiar with the loss of higher paying jobs due to outsourcing. Where does an older worker turn? Now, direct sales is not for everyone, but for those with dreams and some ability, it can make the difference between enjoying one's later years versus just getting by. I heartliy applaud the ways the FTC has been able to protect the public from those who are up to no good and those who find it easy to take advantage of people(usually the ones who can least afford it) with no conscience. I do believe that the proposed rules, though, are going to end up hurting those of us who are trying to build a business. The seven day waiting period, the litigation reporting(without noting the results of such litigation), earnings claims and the references(finding the 10 nearest existing salespeople) do make it harder for we "little guys" to develop our business. The scammers and fraudsters will, of course, find ways to get around the proposed rules, as they usually do. In the end, I believe the only ones who will be hurt are the the ones the proposed rule is meant to protect. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.