Rich Dad, Dipshit Author

I just found an article on the Web debunking Robert Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I must say, it was quite eye-opening.

When I read the book, I found it pretty inspirational. It gelled with the questions I had about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I started thinking about doing my business and such. The thing that I didn't like about the book was that it seemed to imply that everyone could be rich, which is physically impossible due to the laws of economics, like supply and demand. If even janitors have a million bucks, then the million bucks ain't worth much. If everyone is trying to shift real estate for a profit, then we get a real estate bubble like the one that just burst. The point about capitalism is that it rewards people who work hard and innovate, but indeed, it depends on wealth differential to maintain that motivating factor.

John Reed's thrashing of Bob Kiyosaki basically describes Kiyosaki as a charlatan and multi-level marketer (MLM). From the facts from multiple sources (such as Wikipedia) that would appear to be the case. If one claims to be an expert, then they better damn well give evidence to that fact, especially if they're selling advice. The problem with self-help books is that they tell people what they want to themselves believe, and thus prey on people's insecurity. I rather liked the blurb entitled The Fallacy of Success by a G.K. Chesterton that basically calls success books ego masturbation by the authors. If one is going to be successful, then one should go do it. Of course we'd like a how-to manual, but if it really worked, then people would catch on and the definition of success would change. So what is success? Getting what you want. That can only happen when someone else doesn't get what they want. We're all competing for resources, after all.

Indeed, Kiyosaki seems quite like an MLM con: taking advantage of the pyramid scheme of "everybody can get rich", which is impossible. Everyone joins, everyone pays forward, and the ones at the top get rich and the ones at the bottom go nowhere. On the other hand, when one thinks about it, that's essentially what modern capitalism ends up being—a pyramid scheme. How depressing. In that regard, perhaps Kiyosaki is somewhat truthful. If one finds the formula and milks it before others catch on, then move to the next thing, then some benefit is possible.

For the rest of us who would rather not play into the scheme, there's always dreaming of doing what one is passionate about. Get educated about business and do it rather than read bullshit self-help books. While it's important to think about changing oneself, it's important that oneself is the one doing the changing, not some scheming con artist. Motivation is the hardest thing to come by, which is why success remains a rare condition. Well, you never know till ya try, but as a wise green Jedi master once said, "Do. Or do not. There is no 'try'." Or something like that.

Hopefully this hasn't degenerated into a completely Nihilistic conclusion....