Editor's note: Some people have pointed out that pyramid schemes deceive people with false opportunities to make a fortune, and those who are most likely to be deceived are the poor who are in trouble and want to change their destiny. A scam designed specifically to take advantage of the poor's desire to change their destiny, is it more than just a pyramid scheme? Unlocking the shackles? It is not enough to increase official investment alone. Certain institutional arrangements must be made to allow the poor to have equal opportunities to make money as the rich.

In fact, every opportunity provided to the disadvantaged also creates wealth for the whole society. Only when the disadvantaged have the opportunity to rise, can the people have the motivation to thrive, and can the country win a brighter future.

Three types of traps that poor people are prone to fall into? Opportunities to make a fortune

Buying lottery tickets

Buying lottery tickets is not an opportunity to make a fortune. This should be nonsense. But the reality is that a large number of poor Chinese regard buying lottery tickets as an opportunity to make a fortune.

Statistical data shows that the areas in China that most like to buy lottery tickets are Tibet, Yunnan, Gansu, and Ningxia, and the areas that least like to buy lottery tickets are Shanghai, Hunan, Shandong, and Jiangsu. Simply put, the less developed the area, the more interested people are in lottery.

A survey conducted by the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Welfare Lottery Issuance and Management Center shows that low- and middle-income people in the mainland with a monthly income of less than 2,000 yuan constitute the main lottery purchasers. An owner of an "excellent betting station" revealed his experience that the more prosperous a shopping mall is, the better, but lottery sales points must be opened in a place where "poor people gather" to make money.

According to calculations by Dr. Li Gang from the China Lottery Research Center of Beijing Normal University, the per capita lottery purchase amount of Chinese lottery players reached 1,662 yuan in 2010, accounting for 12.34% of the average annual consumer expenditure. During the same period, the per capita medical care Expenditures and expenditures on cultural and entertainment supplies were 872 yuan and 559 yuan respectively.

The China Lottery Research Center released survey results in April this year: 80% of the lottery players surveyed believed that they had no social status and were at the bottom of society, and dreamed of becoming rich overnight by winning the lottery.

Obviously, all kinds of data point to the same conclusion: Chinese poor people love to buy lottery tickets, and they love to buy lottery tickets in large quantities. The reason why they do this is not because they are passionate about public welfare, but because they regard buying lottery tickets as a way to make a fortune. Chance.

Specializing in stocks

Buying stocks means buying a company. If the value of the company is high and the price (i.e. stock price) is low, then you can make money by buying it. Buffett bought PetroChina shares because he estimated that PetroChina was worth at least US$100 billion, but the market value at the time was only US$35 billion, so he bought it. The idea was very simple. But what is not simple is how to estimate the company's value accurately. To estimate accurately, you generally need to find an industry that you are familiar with, and conduct a detailed understanding and professional analysis of the company.

Most Chinese investors are not buying stocks but speculating in stocks. A survey shows that 70 to 80% of investors do not read company statements.

Speculating in stocks and buying stocks are completely different concepts. The former is gambling and wants to bet on the chaotic rise and fall, while the latter is investment and acts according to objective laws.

Mainly among these "gamblers" are low- and middle-income people. A survey by the China Securities Investor Protection Fund Corporation shows that among all investors, low- and middle-income people account for the majority, with 81.16% having a monthly income of less than 6,000 yuan. Those with an income of more than 10,000 yuan rarely speculate in stocks.

Doing pyramid schemes

Although we are well aware that some companies currently engage in pyramid schemes under the guise of legality, we still underestimate the extent of pyramid schemes. Nowadays, small and medium-sized companies are all over the place to engage in pyramid schemes under the guise of legality, and pyramid scams are not limited to daily necessities, health care, and insurance industries.

Needless to say, those who fall into MLM scams are mainly those who have no way to find a job, the poor who want to make a comeback, and the middle-income people who long to join the "upper class."

Three Common Scams of "Profit Opportunities"

Setting "Examples"

In order to make these "Profit Opportunities" seem real, they must be publicized and highlighted. The winner?. Taking lottery as an example, lottery issuance and sales agencies will use these means: 1. Put soft-text advertisements in the media to "report" those coveted "lottery winning stories"; 2. One after another expose astronomical jackpots.

These two tactics are exactly the same as the propaganda methods of MLM: How about exaggerating excellent MLM salesmen? How to turn around? How to get out of the bottom and live a high life, and the lecturers will brag about themselves when they come on stage? Monthly income of XX million yuan? .

Of course, stock trading is no exception. Haven’t we heard enough stories about those "folk stock gods" in the stock market?

Those who boast about technology?

Lottery The winning numbers and the short-term trends of stocks are all irregular, but the designers of the scam claim that they have mastered some kind of "advanced technology" and can find some kind of "regularity", so they can predict where the opportunities lie. The lottery market’s prediction and analysis of the double color ball numbers in this issue. Lottery players need to pay attention to the strengthening of even numbers. This kind of information and the stock market’s Tuesday operation strategy should pay attention to the upward trend of the time-sharing line. This kind of information is the same thing, although it looks very technical. , but there is no essential difference from the ancient fortune-telling master dance.

Use?Policy?

If you firmly believe in objective laws, scammers will also have ways to persuade you. Their method is to express or imply that they have connections and ways. "Forecasting experts" and "big brothers" will flaunt "internal information", while "MLM teachers" will show photos of inspections, interviews, and group photos of big leaders. In short, do you believe that if you follow me, you will follow the government? If you follow the government, you will still suffer losses?

Give the poor a real opportunity to make a fortune?

Beijing’s central business district at night ?, the lights are bright. In neighboring Hebei Province, there are more than 2,000 impoverished villages, and most of the villagers there are just above the food and clothing line.

China’s economic achievements over the past 30 years or so have been extraordinary. However, the social polarization that has accompanied this cannot be underestimated. Not long ago, a discussion swept the Internet about whether poverty is hereditary. Surveys show that among the nearly 200 million migrant workers in China, second-generation migrant workers account for nearly half. Since their wages have been hovering at a low level for a long time, the social security system has extremely limited coverage for them. Like their parents, they work hard, sweat profusely, and earn a meager income. The difference is that as the urban threshold continues to increase, the possibility of them taking root in the city is slimmer, and there is less room for them to improve their lives.

The existence of vulnerable groups in society is inevitable. What can be avoided is the widening gap between the rich and the poor and the poor cannot lose hope of upward mobility. For China, it is extremely urgent to improve the living environment of disadvantaged groups and provide more mobility opportunities and greater room for advancement for people from all walks of life.

Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist known as the "banker of the poor", once said: "If we give the same or similar opportunities to the rich, they will be able to escape." poor. All we have to do is untie the shackles we have placed on them. ?

Since the Ikeda cabinet implemented the National Income Doubling Plan in 1960, Japan’s national income doubled by 1967 and tripled by 1973. This laid the foundation for Japan's economic take-off, turning it from a manufacturing power into an economic power second only to the United States. In fact, almost all Western developed countries have had similar experiences in their economic take-off.

However, so far, our country has no similar plan to simultaneously increase national wealth, making some citizens the long-term bearers of reform costs, and leaving various sequelae.

Give the poor? Opportunities to make a fortune? It must be implemented to store wealth among the people and distribute wealth fairly

Necessary social security and welfare are the basis for sustainable economic and social development. Without necessary social security, the poor will feel a strong sense of insecurity, the entire society will lose vitality, and economic development will lose long-term momentum.

Serious deficits in social security funds are a common problem in almost all countries around the world. Rich countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan are all troubled by this, not to mention developing countries like China. However, China's social security fund has a huge deficit (officially announced data is 720 billion yuan), and personal pension accounts are seriously empty. At the same time, China’s education expenditure only accounts for 3% of GDP, while many developing countries have reached around 5%.

The solution to social security funds mainly relies on financial support and dividends from state-owned enterprises. The first is to increase investment in social security by the central and provincial governments. Minimum national standards should be established for the following core public services: nine-year compulsory education, basic health and medical facilities, basic unemployment benefits and pension insurance, and basic public facilities services in rural areas. Second, dividends from state-owned enterprises are invested in the social security system. This can significantly increase government expenditures on education, medical care, and social security, correct the current imbalance in wealth distribution, and improve people's quality of life to a certain extent.

To put an end to the interest grouping of state-owned enterprises, we must implement the assessment and control of state-owned enterprise leaders, clarify the supervisory bodies, define supervisory powers, impose strict penalties and strict laws, and strictly enforce them through the judiciary, the National People's Congress and other institutions supervision.

There is a causal link between corruption and serious social and economic inequality. In an environment where corruption is prevalent, people's opportunities to accumulate wealth and obtain income are extremely unequal. It is difficult for the poor to accept the reality of hardship, and the rationality of the income of the rich will be questioned.

American sociologist Storff pointed out that the sense of relative deprivation will make some people's antisocial tendencies quite obvious, and it is an important source of social dissatisfaction and social unrest. If people think that only corrupt or daring people can get rich, people will doubt their purity instead of seeing them as successful people worthy of respect.

So, how can developing countries avoid this vicious cycle? In a recent joint report by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, "prescriptions" were given for developing countries, which mainly include enhancing social transparency and establishing a fair, long-term and stable property rights system.

(Comprehensive excerpts from "China Economic Weekly", "Southern Metropolis Daily", "Yangtze Evening News", recommended by Lu Lini)