Animal Farm indeed!

George Orwell, himself a socialist, wrote the allegory Animal Farm to criticize the communist movement in the Soviet Union, which he believed was too oppresive. Incredibly, the story of Animal Farm mirrors the rise (and impending) fall of Quixtar/Amway.

In the novel, the animals, led by the pigs (Van Andel and DeVos), overthrow the humans (the leaders of Nutrilite) who run Manor farm. The pigs convince the rest of the animals (their distributors) to follow their lead in creating a community with greater equity. The animals, frustrated at having the fruits of their labor taken by the humans, are easily swayed to follow the pigs.

In the beginning, everything is wonderful for the animals. They change the name of the farm to Animal Farm (Amway). They establish a basic system of rules. The cornerstone rule is "Four legs good; two legs bad!" If there is a big decision to be made concerning the farm, the animals are informed of the options, and then they vote. The animals work hard, and they are proud of their new farm (Amway).

Soon, however, the pigs begin to separate themselves from the other animals. While the other animals work harder and harder, the pigs sit back, watch, and give more orders. Plus, while the pigs get fatter and fatter from all the food they eat, food that the other animals produced, the rest of the animals are forced to eat increasingly meager rations.

In order to keep the rest of the animals working hard without complaint, the pigs employ two strategies. First of all, the pigs send out a representative, a pig named Squealor (the PR department), to convince the other animals that productivity and quality of life on the farm are actually improving when in fact they are not. He appeals to the other animals' innate goodness, cites mesmerizing statistics, and offers simplistic yet catchy slogans. And if the propaganda doesn't work, the pigs send out large, menacing dogs (Amway legal) to intimidate, attack, and even kill any animal who protests.

Worse, over the years, the pigs change the rules to benefit them. For example, one rule states that "No animal shall drink alcohol." However, after the pigs discover the effects of alcohol, they change the rule to "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess." Of course, the pigs DO drink to excess while the other animals continue their dreary lives. (Gee, has Amway changed any rules to suit them lately?) Previously, the pigs presented arguments at barn meetings (IBOA), but soon they disbanded the meetings and made all decisions themselves.

By the end of the story, the pigs are not only immensely fat off the labor of the other animals, they actually walk on two feet, wear human clothes, and sleep in human beds. They have become exactly what they hated in the beginning--human. (Van Andel and DeVos have become what they sought to escape.)

As for the other animals (IBO's), they live miserable lives, lives without hope. Worse, they have no voice and no hope. They have been conditioned NOT to think and NOT to question authority.

Unfortunately for the animals, they do not have a leader strong enough to challenge the pigs...the true oppressors.

Fortunately for TEAM, we do.

Reading the Tea Leaves

If you read up on what is happening in Great Britain with Amway, you begin to notice quite a few parallels.

A couple weeks ago, Amway terminated several Diamond couples in the UK. On the Amway blog site (http://amwaynews.alticorblogs.com/2007/10/16/ibs-unplugged/#comments), Amway gives only very general reasons why these Diamonds were terminated.

The couples are fighting back (http://www.ibsnews.co.uk/index.htm,), claiming that what they have done for the last 20 years was approved, and that only within the last few months were their business building techniques inappropriate. Doesn't this sound familiar?

Apparently, the UK's DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) has been investigating Amway due to numerous complaints. In response to some of the complaints, the company suspended all recruitment, stopped all "systems," and eventually terminated several Diamonds who seemed cool to the new changes, new changes that Amway called their "transformation."

What changes? Well, it seems to me that Amway wants to run the tool business in the UK. It is changing IBO's to ABO's (Amway Business Owners). Again, doesn't this sound familiar?

Here's my take on it: Amway realizes that it IS an internal consumption pyramid. It KNOWS that people aren't retailing, and it knows that the government and the courts are going to come knocking soon (as in RIGHT NOW in the UK) because such an internal consumption model with overpriced products IS illegal.

It also knows that there have been complaints about the tool money. For that reason, Amway decides to attack the "systems" like TEAM in an effort to break them. Hopefully, all other "systems" will fall under Amway's control after taking down a few big "systems."

As for Amway, to get right with the law, it's newly implemented and controlled system will focus on retailing products, on retailing overpriced products, and on retailing really overpriced products.

Of course, they are in for a RUDE awakening when people try to retail these overpriced products, which is why Orrin and Chris wanted to break free. I think Orrin and Chris saw what was happening. They did not want Amway to be in control of their "system." The TEAM system has been incredibly popular, very profitable, and a tremendous difference-maker in our culture.

Plus, they did not want to try to retail overpriced products. Thus, they asked for a release, but Amway wouldn't let them go.

I will give Amway credit here. In what I believe was a calculated gamble, they are attacking TEAM and other groups to deflect attention from the real issues that are confronting them. Of course, they didn't expect almost ALL of Team from defecting. The weapons they are wielding are items, bogus items I might add, such as "depth building" and "tool profits," while the real problem is that nobody can retail the Amway/Quixtar products.

Now, they are working overtime to slam, ridicule, harass, and malign TEAM in an effort to look good to their other north American groups. They hope that the remaining IBO's (ABO's) will be focusing on the TEAM conflict while they make unpopular changes (again, without lowering prices much). Of course, there is also the fear, the great fear, that Woodward and Brady will create a new MLM. Amway realizes now that it must kill the baby snake before it becomes to powerful to slay (I borrowed that from "Julius Ceasar").

For those IBO's (oops, I mean ABO's) who are still a part of Amway, I suggest you do your research into what is happening in the UK. You will see your future.

For those who respond, I would like to hear what parallels you can draw between the events in the UK and the events in the US.

Here's another good link to get you started (http://www.jerryandmandy.co.uk/), and I suggest you read the Amway blog too.

Lastly, let me comment about the tool money issue. From day one that I was a part of TEAM, I knew that the tool money was considerable. In fact, I was encouraged to reach higher levels so that I would be a part of the profit sharing plan. In an effort to be transparent about tool money, Orrin and Chris wrote a chapter about the tool money in The Consumer Rebellion, but you won't be able to read it because Amway conveniently (convenient for them) wouldn't allow that chapter to be published.

How clever...Amway won't let the truth about tool money come out...and then they will assail groups over their tool money!!

Jilted Fiance Seeks Retribution!

Sometimes, especially in my younger years, I seemed to attract the strangest women. Perhaps you have had a similar experience.

Over coffee one day, a friend of mine described a young woman that he wanted me to meet. He told me that she was an attractive professional with great lines. He started to draw her figure, but I was a bit leary when he showed me what looked like a bunch of circles.

I trusted my friend so I agreed to meet the young woman. I have to admit, at first, I was smitten with her. She seemed smart, beautiful, and level-headed. I thought we made a pretty good couple.

It seemed like marriage was a certainty, but right after the big engagement, things started to change. First of all, she was costing me a fortune. We started to fight over little things like the $20 bottle of shampoo that she had to have.

She promised me that we would work together to stick to a improved budget. Unfortunately, she never had time to work on a budget with me.

One day, I asked her about her make-up. We were spending a ton of money on her make-up too, and I was hoping she would agree to try something a bit more reasonable. She absolutely flipped when I brought the subject up. "I get it! The prices are high. I know! But this is extremely HIGH quality," she yelled.

"I know it is, honey, but..."

"Fine," she interrupted, "I won't use any make-up." She started to scrape off her make up. I say "scraped" because she had quite a bit on. When she turned to me, I was shocked. The woman before me was NOT the beautiful woman I thought she was. I guess I had never really seen her without at least some of her make-up on.

"Are you happy now?" she demanded. I didn't know what to say, but I knew that her tone twisted my heart.

"Let's work something out," I offered.

"Go! Just go!" she yelled.

And I did.

Leaving the apartment, I knew it was for the best. We simply had different values and we were going in different directions. She knew it. I knew it. And I felt good because I knew it was for the best.

But then she called back the next day, screaming.

She called me a bunch of names. I tried to remind her that she is the one who told me to go, but she didn't care. She just wanted to hurt me. I guess I hurt her when I left?

The next week she even put up some pretty derogatory comments on her myspace page. Oh, she also e-mailed all of my friends to tell them that they should stay away from me because I was dangerous.

Of course, I tried to talk to my buddies about her comments.

A few days passed by and I thought that things had settled down. Boy was I wrong. Her lawyers called me up telling me that I couldn't tell any of my friends how crazy she had been acting.

You know, looking back, I still enjoyed our first few months together, but right now, my jilted ex-girlfriend needs some counseling.

The good news for me is that there are always other fish in the sea, and I am sure that there is a beautiful one in there for me...and for you too!!