90% of his advice is pretty much just boilerplate self help stuff you can find in thousands of books on Amazon. That stuff gets you in the door and is meant to develop a sense of trust because you might see initial improvement and feel good from the advice.

It’s when he does the rug pull and starts introducing trad nonsense into it that determines how willing a person is to keep following through on listening to him.

Like you mentioned, this is an extremely common tactic used by religious leaders as well as cults. Back in the mid 20th century when the whole self help craze started, many cults took to framing themselves as self help groups to attract outsiders. NXIVM is probably the most infamous example of this. The first few meetings should seem like a normal support group but would soon start ramping up into full on cult mode.

I was thinking he was more of a Jack Welch more than a typical grifter really

He’s seems like one of those shady ass business types that will run a company into the ground while trying to maximize his personal earnings before he skips town on a solid gold private jet.

Looking at the numbers given on Wikipedia is ludicrous.

“Milken’s compensation while head of the high-yield bond department at Drexel Burnham Lambert in the late 1980s exceeded $1 billion over a four-year period, a record for U.S. income at that time.”

That’s already nuts but then you look at the company’s financials and its even more insane.

Revenue: US$4.8 billion (1968)

Net Income: US$545.5 million (1968)

The guy was syphoning off a whole fifth of the company’s entire revenue for the last years of its existence before it went bankrupt.

“[Kevin Klowden, chief global strategist at the Milken Institute] explained that the work stoppage will impact other businesses besides production, including restaurants, catering companies, trucking agencies, and dry cleaning businesses, among many others. ‘The main thing we’re really factoring into it is the lost wages,’ Klowden told Yahoo Finance Live”

Got to sow that discontent for the strikers among other workers. As if the Hollywood business execs give 2 shits.

Also checked up about this Milken Institute and of course it’s some scumbag think tank. The opening paragraph on their Wikipedia page is great and totally makes them seem like a reputable and unbiased source.

“The institute was founded in 1991 by Michael Milken, a former Drexel Burnham Lambert banker who gained notoriety for significant financial success as a pioneer of “junk bonds” as well as his subsequent felony conviction and prison sentence for U.S. securities law violations.”

I’ve known a number of self labeled “liberals” that basically think being progressive means simply not being openly racist and restraining from yelling slurs on a street corner.

Surprise surprise it turns out they were just closet bigots who were aware what crowds they could get away with expressing their horrid views with and in the recent years figured street corners are now perfectly up for grabs.

The best marks are the overconfident ones who think they will be able to out scam the scammers. They are the ones who will gladly dump their life savings into shitty ape pngs thinking they will be the one to make it big.

If a “good boss” is being an actual good boss, the worst they should have to expect from the union is having the occasional friendly meeting with them to discuss any minor workplace concerns and contract negotiations.

The fact many “good bosses” immediately start sprewing hell and brimstone at the mention of a union hints maybe they ain’t as good and benevolent as they claim to be.

I love you can tell by their faces, “his boys” look so tired and disinterested in his shit lol

Big reason why grass lawns require so much constant watering is because they have pretty bad water retention. Having a thick layer of foliage protects the soil from direct sunlight which prevents it from drying out too quickly. Much of that water you see people spraying onto their lawns is actually just gonna evaporate back into the air before the grass even has a chance to use it.