The USDA's previous graphic also depicted an elaborate pyramid scheme.
Posted on 03/07/2006 10:21:17 AM PST by Graybeard58
Washington, D.C. – Washington sources reported Tuesday that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for allegedly using an illegal pyramid scheme to market its 2005 revision of the USDA basic food groups chart.
"The USDA's pyramid scheme encourages folks to invest large sums of money – in this case, into groceries – and recruit the people closest to them, usually family members, to hop on board with this pyramid system," said E. Carl Lindgren, an FTC investigator. "Pyramid schemes are proven to be nothing more than complex scams that benefit no one except their architects. And we believe this food pyramid scheme is no different."
A pyramid scheme is an illegal, non-sustainable business model that involves enrolling other people into the scheme, often without any sort of product or service actually being delivered to customers. Designed to look like multi-level marketing operations, pyramid schemes are usually characterized by an unnaturally large focus on the enrolling of friends and family members.
According to Lindgren, although the USDA's basic food group recommendations have for decades been represented by a pyramid graphic – separating foods into six categories: grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy, meat and beans, and fats, oils and sweets – it was not until the USDA unveiled its revamped "MyPyramid" daily nutrition graphic in 2005 that the FTC began to suspect the USDA of running a true pyramid scheme.
"What really tipped us off was the addition of the stick figure running up the steps," Lindgren explained, pointing to a printout of the MyPyramid illustration. "This is obviously some sort of subliminal message suggesting that by running around and turning everyone you know on to this nutrition scheme, a person can climb higher and higher within the pyramid, up to where the real fat gets chewed."
Lindgren said that people who invest their time, money and energy into the USDA's scheme typically receive nothing in return for their efforts. Lindgren also claimed that America's increasing obesity statistics may constitute proof that the nutrition recommendations provided in the USDA's program are actually physically harmful to its recruits.
"If the dietary recommendations put forth in the USDA's brochure truly benefited the millions of people who have fallen for this con, it would stand to reason that we'd be seeing a drop in the number of obese Americans, not a rise," said Lindgren. "The bottom line is that the USDA is selling people a pipe dream here, and people are eating it up like it came down on stone tablets. Frankly, it's a shame that a government organization would prey on the gullibility of the American public like this."
Attempts to reach executives at the USDA's headquarters in Costa Rica for comment proved unsuccessful.
The USDA's previous graphic also depicted an elaborate pyramid scheme.
Having worked with those pyramid folks, this is funny. It is definately a pyramid scheme but one I would more aptly call "Which producer group will be King of the mountain."
Wondering about the BMI of that stick figure - seems to have 'chunky' thighs... < /sarc >
I am addicted to food.
In fact, it is so bad that I have an entire room of my house dedicated to the storage and preperation of food.
It is all the government's fault.
I only use it for recreational purposes myself.
Not only that but I have to have a fix several times a day. And I'm alwyas spending my last couple dollars buying more. *I just can't live without it.*
I thought we were all addicted to oil...
Aren't Social Security and Medicare good examples of pyramid schemes also?
The biggest ever concocted.
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