Review of Betting on Zero (2016) by Guido S — 16 Jun 2017

An interesting look at a company called Herbalife and the people who are trying to bring them down in the process. I think it did a mostly good job of telling the stories from all angles, but it is insistent on its' stance at the very end in the film's closing moments.

I think it is a pretty interesting story, but at the end of the day, people need to be smart about this. Don't put all of your savings in one go on something you aren't sure is going to make you money first. Obviously, don't put in MORE money when you aren't making any. I'm not quite sure how this whole thing works, it seems like there just wouldn't be any more people to recruit, but what do I know?

Let's not also make out Bill Ackerman, the guy trying to short the stock of Herbalife, into some hero either. He's trying to make money off this from his many TV appearances and his [ower on Wall St. That's not to say Carl Icann isn't free from this either. They both make money on wether companies they like succeed or fail. They are both pretty scummy regardless of how they are portrayed in this movie.

Let's also not overlook that only this movie can make lawyers seem like a gift from heaven as the saviors of the downtrodden. In these multi-million (or billion) dollar lawsuits, they'll be getting the fat checks. The people they are representing will only see a few pennies. But this documentary conveniently doesn't mention that and gives them all the hero edits instead.

Regardless of how you feel of Herbalife, they legitimately hire hundreds if not thousands of "real" employees, not distributors. These people would be out of a job if Ackerman has his way just so he could make money off it. Again, conveniently left out.

I'm astounded a company like Herbalife exists. That is has been around for so long, is a publicly traded company with its books out there for anyone to go over, and has existed for over 30 years and sees no signs of slowing down. I'd think people would be smart to be weary of any get rich quick schemes, but I guess there are just suckers born every minute. Are they a scummy company? Abosolutely. However, show me one corporation that isn't, they all want you to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on their product as often as they can make you while they get richer and you get poorer.