The initiators of these pyramid schemes should be thrashed - they are heartless.

It is incumbent on the Finance Ministry to tell it like it is - they do not and cannot work. As you so rightly pointed out in your editorial in just sixteen days one would run out of suckers in Bermuda.

To prove my commentary that everything in Bermuda has a racial undertone or overtone, the meeting at the BIU last night, reported in your paper, is the final confirmation. Have the "testimentors'' lost their minds or are they afraid they, having been conned, will run out of victims? This scheme is sort of like musical chairs - inevitably you will run out of a chair to sit on - but it is compounded. To make a "profit'' one has to sucker more people than the initiator.

As a friend said to me it is like the two men running from a bear. Suddenly one stops and puts on his running shoes, the other says to him why are you putting on your running shoes, you cannot outrun a bear. His response is I don't have to, I only have to outrun you! You see, the pyramid scheme works for those who get paid.

Thus, we all need to take issue with the Educational Ministry for not adequately teaching mathematics.

And where is the commentary from our elected officials - are they so used to saying nothing of consequence on Fridays in the House, that they are in the habit? Can we even solicit a comment from Mr. Edmead or Dale Butler? (or their dogs)? But in all seriousness, I hope by the time I send this to you, on Tuesday morning, that the Finance Ministry will explain how fruitless a con this is -not leaving the Home Affairs Ministry to say it is illegal - let it be explained why it is illegal! Finally a clever man I know said to me this morning that the Government Pension scheme is really a pyramid scheme - interesting. I wonder what Mr.

Dennis, the Auditor General, thinks about that! SANDERS FRITH-BROWN Life's one big gamble February 8, 2000 Dear Sir, Having listened to just about every opinion on the radio talk show 1340 with Mr. E. DeCosta regarding the present running of pyramid schemes, please allow me to weigh in with my own two cents on this issue.

Firstly let me state that up until the 3rd February I was somewhat sceptical of these programmes (I prefer this term as `scheme' has such a sinister connotation to it) despite being approached by friends and my own mother, after all anything that sounds to good to be true usually is, right? ...

RIGHT??.

The debate on the radio was very enlightening with people arguing the pros and cons of its legality while also making light of the possibility of one losing their money with no profitable return. It is well noted that everything in life is a gamble. And if one chooses to part with their hard earned money by way of a gift then it is nobody's business but their own, after all I have parted with hundreds of dollars through raffles (charitable gift) with less probability of a return and even less to show for it.

While I do appreciate the need for laws to protect the general populace from unscrupulous individuals who would take advantage of the naive, unwary or uninformed, at some point in time one must realise what is in their own best interest and accept the reality of what could come from participating in one of these programmes (or any other) before they commit so much as one cent.

Now say I take an initial investment (gift) of $100 that I admit to giving away freely with the understanding that I be gifted at some point in time, eventually I hear that I have indeed been gifted $700, that's a profit of $600, of which I put $100 in my pocket, reinvest $200 and gift $100 to a friend with one request that, they in turn would commit at least $100 of any eventual profit to the programme. As it stands right now, if it does indeed crash, I can never be seen to have lost anything. Also it can't be seen as a pyramid because no one person acquires all the profit, those joining behind in time will be gifted. I believe the potential is endless, as long as like minded individuals reinvest in the programme and the cycle continues, after all "UNITED WE STAND!..?'' So, there it is as I have come to see it, no fools or idiots no mathematically challenged, just a group of open-minded individuals with the hope and desire to help one another. Some just a pay cheque away from being devoured by this financially draining vacuum we presently live in, which is more likely to get worse before it gets better, due in part to the country's own success and the incorrigible greed that pervades this beautiful island /world we all call home.

THE SPECTRE City of Hamilton P.S. If these programmes do run afoul of the law it is hoped that one or the other could be changed or re-structured to the benefit and protection of all involved.

Book will open your eyes February 10, 2000 Dear Sir, I am writing to let Mr. Anthony Siese and anyone else that disagrees with my letter to the Editor entitled `Telling It Like It Is'', that I don't take back what I wrote. Mr. Siese says that to the best of his knowledge slaves were never kidnapped. What can I say, I can't argue because that's just the best of his knowledge.

Mr. Siese, please read the book called "How To Make A Slave'' written by a slaveowner named Whillie Lynch. This book explains the whole plot in detail, from physical slavery to mental slavery. I can guarantee that your mouth will be left hanging and your heart will be touched.

T. SELASSIE St David's