The 48 Laws Of Power

LAVV 40

REVERSAL

The

powerful

never

forget

thatwhatisofferedforfreeis

inevitably

atrick.

Friendswhoofferfavorswithout

asking

for

payment

willlaterwant

some

thing

fardearerthanthe

moneyyou

wouldhave

paid

them.The

bargain

hashidden

problems,

bothmaterial

and

psychological.

Learnto

pay,

then,

andto

pay

well.

Ontheother

hand,

thisLawoffers

great

opportunities

for

swindling

and

deception

if

youapply

itfromtheotherside.

Dangling

the

lure

ofat

freelunchistheconartisfsstockintrade.

Nomanwas

betteratthisthanthemostsuccessfulconartistofour

age,Joseph

Weil,

a.k.a.“TheYellowKid.”TheYellowKidlearned

early

thatwhatmadehisswindles

possible

washisfellowhumans’

greed.

“This

desireto

getsomething

for

nothing,”

heonce

wrote,

“hasbeen

verycostly

to

manypeople

whohavedealtwith

meandwithothercanmen., ..

When

people

lea.rn——a3Idoubt

they

will—that

they

can’t

getsomething

for

nothing,

crimewilldiminishandweshallalllivein

greater

harmony.”

Overthe

years

Weildevised

many

ways

toseduce

people

withthe

prospect

of

easymoney.

Hewouldhandout“free”realestate——whocouldresist

suchanoffer?——andthenthesuckerswouldlearn

they

hadto

pay

$25to

register

thesale.

Since

thelandwas

free,

it

seemedworththe

high

fee,

and

the

YellowKidwouldmakethousandsofdollarsonthe

phony

registration.

In

exchange

hewould

give

hissuckersa

phony

deed.Other

times,

he

wouldtellsuckersaboutafixedhorse

race,

orastockthatwouldearn 200

percent

inafewweeks.Ashe

spun

hisstorieshewouldwatchthe

sucker’s

eyesopen

wideatthe

thought

ofafreelunch.

Thelessonis

simple:

Bait

yourdeceptions

withthe

possibility

of

easy

money.People

are

essentially

lazy,

andwantwealthtofallintheir

lap

ratherthantoworkforit.Foratsmall

sum,

sellthemadviceonhowto

makemillions

(P.

T.Barnumdidthislaterin

life),

andthatsmallsumwill

becomeafortunewhen

multipliedby

thousandsofsuckers.

Lure

people

in

withthe

prospect

of

easymoney

and

you

havetheroomtowork

still

more

deceptions

on

them,

since

greed

is

powerfulenough

toblind

your

victims

to

anything.

AndastheYellowKid

said,

halfthefunis

teaching

amoral

lesson:Greeddoesnot

pay.