Maybe. AL doesn't necessarily sound like an upstanding citizen himself. It sounds like he and KL were good at tapping into their "warm market". The oil business is boom and bust. Anyone investing in any venture like that (or even in the energy sector through a reputable investment firm) knows that it's a volatile market and you take your chances. It's one thing for everyone to "lose their shirt". It's not ok when the lead man walks away, by appearances unscathed, and everyone else gets burned.
I hear you, Andromeda. But how do we know for sure that Alvin wasn't an upstanding citizen? Did I miss something?
I know Calgary/Edmonton intimately, and know for sure that the 'new money' families of the oil patch do not own furniture from the 1980's, or live in homes that have never been remodelled. In Calgary, kids throw away last year's bike when they get a new one. Successful people don't overprice a plant they have had for 20 years, and try to sell it for extra $$(as per the L's Kijiji ad).
The real estate business as well as multi-level marketing, attracts dreamers, ... many entrepreneurs are gamblers, looking ahead and highly motivated to make their simple or financially troubled lives better. They DO tap into their 'centre of influence, or warm market' and that is a huge part of it all of the above mentioned businesses. People are intrigued by the idea of creating wealth in these particular industries. Who has_ever_ heard of someone hitting the jackpot in MLM?
I can't speak for the oil business, but know that people with a lot more financial clout than AL have lost in that particular game, and recently.
I don't believe the L's were walking away wealthy, as much as they may have wanted to give that impression.
I think of them as 'wannabe' entrepreneurs who used the value of their home as leverage, and it just didn't work out.
